First Afrikaners granted refugee status due to arrive in U.S.

White South Africans supporting US President Donald Trump and South African and US tech billionaire Elon Musk stitchery successful beforehand of the US Embassy successful Pretoria, connected February 15, 2025 for a demonstration. MARCO LONGARI/AFP hide caption

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MARCO LONGARI/AFP

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The U.S. authorities has officially granted 54 Afrikaans South Africans, achromatic descendants of chiefly Dutch colonizers, exile presumption and they are expected to onshore successful the U.S. connected Monday May 12, 3 sources with cognition of the substance person told NPR. The sources did not privation to beryllium named due to the fact that they enactment for the U.S. authorities and fearfulness for their careers.

U.S. authorities connected Thursday were trying to put a charter formation that would bring the South Africans to Dulles Airport adjacent Washington, D.C., connected Monday morning, but it's not wide if they volition beryllium allowed to onshore astatine Dulles. If that is not imaginable past they volition beryllium sent connected commercialized flights, according to the sources.

NPR has besides seen an email confirming the plan, and that the caller arrivals volition past beryllium sent connected to their last destinations successful assorted states crossed the country.

The radical are the archetypal radical of Afrikaners to beryllium accepted by the U.S. aft President Donald Trump signed an executive order successful February offering them imaginable resettlement.

"The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall instrumentality due steps, accordant with law, to prioritize humanitarian relief, including admittance and resettlement done the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners successful South Africa who are victims of unjust radical discrimination," the order, signed February 7, said. It besides chopped assistance to South Africa.

The sources said a property league was planned for the group's accomplishment astatine Dulles airport, which would beryllium attended by precocious level officials from the Departments of State and Homeland Security.

States that person agreed to instrumentality successful the South Africans include: Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, West Virgina, California, Idaho, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, and New York, 1 root said. Several of the radical granted exile presumption person household ties successful the U.S., they said.

The root noted it is antithetic for refugees to beryllium welcomed astatine the airdrome by U.S. dignitaries, and said the process of interviewing them successful South Africa and granting them exile presumption has been unusually quick.

The Afrikaners person been fixed P1 exile status. According to the State Department website this is fixed to "individual cases referred by designated entities to the programme by virtuousness of their circumstances and evident request for resettlement."

The South Africans volition present person a pathway to U.S. citizenship and beryllium eligible for authorities benefits.

One root told NPR the UN's International Organization for Migration had refused to beryllium progressive successful the process. A spokesperson for the IOM did not instantly reply to petition for comment.

President Trump, his South African-born advisor Elon Musk, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have each been vocal astir what they assertion is the persecution Afrikaners — galore of whom are farmers — look successful South Africa.

Trump has accused the South African authorities of "doing immoderate unspeakable things" and said "they are confiscating land, and really they're doing things that are possibly acold worse than that."

The South African authorities passed a new onshore betterment measure earlier this year, but truthful acold nary onshore has been confiscated and the authorities says a clause allowing for "expropriation without compensation" would beryllium utilized lone successful uncommon instances.

South Africa's Department of International Relations has besides deed backmost against Trump's allegations that Afrikaners are discriminated against.

"It is ironic that the enforcement bid makes proviso for exile presumption successful the U.S. for a radical successful South Africa that remains amongst the astir economically privileged, portion susceptible radical successful the U.S. from different parts of the satellite are being deported and denied asylum contempt existent hardship," the section said successful a February statement.
 
On his archetypal time backmost successful office, Trump ordered the realignment of the "refugees admissions program," effectively suspending it, explaining: "The United States lacks the quality to sorb ample numbers of migrants, and successful particular, refugees, into its communities successful a mode that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their information and security."