Trump Begins Resettling Persecuted White Afrikaners

_WHAT’S HAPPENING_

The Trump administration is set to welcome white Afrikaners from South Africa to the United States as refugees, with the first group expected to arrive imminently.

Officials state these individuals are "victims of unjust racial discrimination," pointing to South Africa's land expropriation legislation as a key factor, along with increasing hostility towards white farmers.

This comes even as most other US refugee resettlement programs remain suspended.

_THE FACTS_

• The first group of Afrikaner refugees is expected to arrive to the US today.

• Trump suspended most refugee admissions in January but created an exception for Afrikaners fleeing “race-based persecution.”

• Expropriation Act 13, signed by South Africa’s president, allows land seizures without compensation in some cases.

• In February, President Trump signed an executive order halting all aid to South Africa because of that law, and paved the way for Afrikaner resettlement.

• Trump adviser Stephen Miller said the Afrikaners’ situation “fits the textbook definition” of refugee status under US law.

• The State Department is prioritizing Afrikaners who have experienced violence with a racial motive, including home invasions and carjackings.

• South Africa’s government called the “refugees” designation of white Afrikaners “politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy.”

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio expelled South Africa’s ambassador in March, calling him a “race-baiting” politician after he described Trump as leading a “global white supremacist movement.”

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