First white South Africans fly to US under Trump refugee plan

12/5/2025 18:41

The first 49 white South Africans deemed victims of racial discrimination and granted refugee status under an offer by U.S. President Donald Trump were flying to the U.S. on Monday in a move deepening frictions between the two nations.



The U.S. government has blocked mostly non-white refugee admissions from the rest of the world but is prioritising Afrikaners, the descendants of mostly Dutch settlers.



Giving refugee status to white South Africans has been met with a mixture of alarm and ridicule by South African authorities, who say the Trump administration has waded into a domestic political issue it does not understand.



It comes at a time of heightened racial tensions in South Africa over land and jobs that has divided the ruling coalition.