A group of people holding a demo outside the US Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa on February 15, 2025 show their gratitude to US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order giving white South Africans special refugee status.

Washington, May 10 (RHC)-- The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to welcome its first group of white refugees from South Africa at the same time as it is arresting and deporting many refugees.

According to U.S. media reports, a charter flight carrying dozens of Afrikaans South Africans is scheduled to arrive on May 12th.  NPR reported earlier in the week that 54 Afrikaaners have been officially granted refugee status, with the process of interviewing them being "unusually quick."

The Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch and other European colonists, represent the first group to benefit from a February executive order that prioritizes their admission under the United States Refugee Admissions Program.

The order, signed on February 7, directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to “take appropriate steps, consistent with law, to prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.”  The directive also included a reduction in aid to South Africa.

President Trump has accused the South African government of targeting Afrikaner farmers through land expropriation efforts without compensation.  Trump, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South African-born advisor Elon Musk, has characterized the policy as discriminatory.

Despite these claims, South Africa's Department of International Relations has rejected the accusations, stating in a February statement: “It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the U.S. for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the U.S. from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship.”

This policy shift has drawn criticism for its apparent inconsistency.  While Afrikaners, who still maintain substantial economic and political influence in post-apartheid South Africa, are being resettled under humanitarian grounds, many asylum seekers from Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East continue to face deportation or lengthy detentions under the same administration.

Comedian Leah Jazz satirized the narrative of Afrikaner victimhood in a widely circulated Instagram video, mocking the idea that white South Africans are oppressed.

“I then need to wash, so I have a dip in our pool which is used for bathing and drinking as we have no running water,” she says in the clip.  “Then I sit down to apply for a job I'm not qualified for, and cry when I don't get it.”

Afrikaners have historically been part of South Africa’s ruling class. Until the end of apartheid in 1994, English and Afrikaner colonists dominated political and economic life under a racially segregated system that denied the Black majority basic rights.

On January 21st, President Trump signed a separate order realigning the broader refugee admissions framework, stating that the country lacked “the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants... in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans.”

Trump's allegations against South Africa come as the latter filed a case at the International Court of Justice against Israel, a close U.S. ally, for committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

[ SOURCE:  AFP and NEWS AGENCIES ]