Over Forty White South Africans Welcomed as Refugees in the US (article) (archive=not working)
More than forty white South Africans arrived in the United States on Monday. The American government is welcoming them as refugees. This is notable, given that since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the country has largely halted the admission of refugees.
"Welcome to the land of the free," said Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau upon their arrival at Dulles Airport near Washington. Many of the white South Africans — including young children — were holding American flags.
Shortly before their arrival, Trump claimed that white farmers in South Africa were being murdered. He even spoke of “genocide,” though he provided no evidence for this.
“They cannot produce any evidence of persecution, because there is simply no form of persecution of white South Africans or Afrikaner South Africans,” said South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Ronald Lamola earlier.
Trump Targets South Africa
Trump has targeted South Africa since the country introduced an expropriation law. This law allows, in certain cases, for land to be seized without compensation.
According to South Africa, the law is an attempt to correct injustices that arose during the rule of the white minority under apartheid (1948–1994).
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has also criticized the South African government. He is a close associate of Trump and was born in Pretoria, South Africa.
South Africa has a population of about 63 million. Of these, just over 7 percent are white, and 11 percent speak Afrikaans — a language related to Dutch — as their first language. Roughly three-quarters of the farms and agricultural businesses are owned by Afrikaners.
