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President Donald Trump was asked on Monday about granting an expedited path to refugee status for white South Africans while not allowing refugees from countries such as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Trump replied in part, "Because they're being killed. And we don't want to see people be killed...it's a genocide that's taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white."
The president's comments came as a United States-funded flight carrying nearly 50 white South Africans departed Johannesburg on Sunday, marking the first group of Afrikaners granted refugee status under a new policy from Trump. The group arrived in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration all but canceled the U.S. refugee program on Inauguration Day, prompting concerns from immigration advocacy and human rights groups that refugees would be left in dangerous situations in their home countries. Trump said that the system had been abused, and the country could not continue to welcome so many migrants.
What To Know
White South Africans say they've faced violence and economic exclusion due to their race, but their expedited relocation to the U.S. is drawing sharp criticism from humanitarian groups and South African officials.
In an announcement Monday morning, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in South Africa said that the program was open to Afrikaners or other racial minorities in the country who could prove "a past experience of persecution or fear of future persecution."
When asked about the reasoning for opening up the expedited pathway for the group on Monday, Trump said:
"It's a genocide that's taking place, and you people don't want to write about it. It's a terrible thing that's taking place, and the farmers are being killed; they happen to be white. Whether they are white or Black makes no difference to me, but white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.
"The newspapers and the media, television media, doesn't even talk about it. If it were the other way round, they'd talk about it, that would be the only story they talk about. I don't care who they are. I don't care about their race, their color, I don't care about their height, their weight, I don't care about anything, I just know that what is happening is terrible."
Trump said he had essentially "extended citizenship to those people."
On Monday morning, around 49 people arrived on the first flight to the U.S. They had been granted refugee status, which can lead to U.S. citizenship. The new arrivals will also be eligible for government benefits.
The U.S. has claimed that the South African government is taking land from white farmers without any compensation, something it denies.
On Friday, ahead of the first flights to the U.S., the country's Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation held talks with American counterparts and expressed concerns over the use of the refugee program.
The department repeated that it felt allegations of discrimination were unfounded, including by President Trump and Elon Musk, who is South African, that white people in the country were being killed en masse.
In February, a South African court ruled that claims of a white genocide were "clearly imagined" and "not real." Police figures showed around 44 murders on farms and agricultural land in 2024, with eight farmers among them.
That has not stopped the Trump administration from moving forward with the program, at a time when most other nations, which previously had pathways to U.S. refugee status, have had the route cut off.
White South Africans make up around 7 percent of the country's population, but own around 70 percent of its commercial farmland.
The group from South Africa, including children holding small American flags, arrived at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on a private charter plane and was greeted by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar.
What People Are Saying
South Africa's Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, in a press release Friday: "It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being 'refugees' is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa's constitutional democracy; a country which has in fact suffered true persecution under Apartheid rule and has worked tirelessly to prevent such levels of discrimination from ever occurring again, including through the entrenchment of rights in our Constitution, which is enforced vigorously through our judicial system.
"In addition, it is not clear how the principle of non-refoulement will be applied in relation to these citizens once they are resettled."
White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller told reporters Friday: "What's happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created. This is persecution based on a protected characteristic, in this case, race."
Landau, speaking to the group at Dulles International Airport: "I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years. We respect the long tradition of your people and what you have accomplished over the years."
What Happens Next
Following the group's arrival and press conference, they were expected to head elsewhere in the U.S. More flights are likely to follow, with several thousand South Africans expressing interest in the program.
Update: 5/12/25, 12:24 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update: 5/12/25, 2:54 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
About the writer
Dan Gooding is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. His focus is reporting on immigration and border security. ... Read more