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“A group of 59 white South Africans has arrived in the US, where they are to be granted refugee status. President Donald Trump has said the refugee applications for the country's Afrikaner minority had been expedited as they were victims of ‘racial discrimination’. The South African government said the group were not suffering any such persecution that would merit refugee status…
“The Trump administration has halted all other refugee admissions, including for applicants from warzones… Asked directly on Monday why the Afrikaners' refugee applications had been processed faster than other groups, Trump said a ‘genocide’ was taking place and that ‘white farmers’ specifically were being targeted. ‘Farmers are being killed, they happen to be white, but whether they're white or black makes no difference to me.’…
“In January [South African] President Ramaphosa signed a controversial law allowing the government to seize privately owned land without compensation in certain circumstances, when it is deemed ‘equitable and in the public interest’’ But the government says no land has yet been seized under the act.” BBC
The left is critical of the decision to prioritize Afrikaner refugees.
“Post-colonial (and for that matter, post-feudal) land-redistribution policies are hardly all that unusual, and while it’s possible to question their wisdom or fairness, they do not inherently cry out to heaven for vengeance. And they do not constitute ‘genocide.’ Trump’s claim that Afrikaner farmers are being ‘killed’ in a genocidal fashion are largely hallucinatory…
“Genocide Watch, which has a highly sophisticated evaluation system for activities that constitute or threaten genocidal violence, listed 17 countries that merited genocide ‘emergencies or warnings’ in 2024. None of them were South Africa… Even the legitimate fears of Afrikaners that they could lose their land without compensation remain more hypothetical than real, since the South African government has not moved to implement the expropriation law.”
Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine
“The economic gap between white and Black South Africans has barely budged since apartheid. Whites make up roughly 8% of the population but hold more than 65% of the top management jobs. And there’s little evidence that white farmers face any particular peril — it’s Black farm workers who bear the brunt of deadly violence on South African farms…
“But even if we take Trump’s word for it on their plight, their situations stand in pretty sharp contrast to, say, Sudanese refugees who are starving in sweltering camps or Afghan women who can’t leave the house or get an education or Palestinians who are watching decimation of their homes and community. There are a great many people in need of safe harbor… Trump has turned nearly all of them away, except for this one privileged minority.”
Jill FIlipovic, Substack
“Apparently, the public is supposed to believe that it’s simply a coincidence that Trump is blocking refugees from entering the U.S. except for a group of white people… Making matters worse is the companion bookend: On the same day the Trump administration welcomed white South Africans, it also announced that it’s ending temporary protected status for Afghans.”
Steve Benen, MSNBC
“Trump, who launched his political career with a bigoted diatribe in which he characterized Mexican immigrants as drug-pushers and rapists, has built a movement largely centered around white grievance politics. And he reaffirmed his allegiance to that effort last year when he vowed to crack down on what he called ‘anti-white feeling’ in the U.S. if elected president — even though anti-white discrimination doesn’t exist in any systemic way. The administration importing white South Africans suggests an attempt to globalize his pro-white agenda.”
Ja'han Jones, MSNBC
The right supports the decision to bring in Afrikaner refugees.
The right supports the decision to bring in Afrikaner refugees.
“The government of South Africa has just given itself the authority to seize land without compensation in order to punish white people for the alleged crimes of their ancestors. Meanwhile, chants of ‘Kill the Boer’ — as in ‘Kill the white farmer’ — are being led in massive stadiums by black politicians in South Africa. The purpose of asylum laws and refugee programs is to protect people in precisely this scenario. They’re being targeted based on characteristics that they cannot control.”
Matt Walsh, Daily Wire
“In the Western press, the problems are dismissed because the indisputably corrupt South African government denies there are problems. The very same American press that insisted Joe Biden was fine, also insists there are no problems in South Africa. Talk to white residents of South Africa and many have horror stories…
“The Trump Administration has allowed 59 refugees in. The press and woke left that had no problem flooding Springfield, OH with Haitian refugees is enraged. It really is about white people, it seems… Between the Presbyterian Church USA [killing] off its missionary program to avoid being colonizers and the Episcopal Church refusing to help resettle white refugees, it is a helpful reminder of how racist progressives are.”
Erick-Woods Erickson, Substack
“[Almost 2.5% of the world population] have expressed a desire to move to the United States, which is about 200 million people… We can't take them all in, obviously. Americans should take in a limited number of refugees from around the world, presuming that they are facing genuine political violence. I would support granting refugee status to Nigerian Christians who are facing genocide. Their claim to refugee status is far stronger than that of Venezuelans fleeing the collapse of the country's economy.”
David Strom, Hot Air
“Why is it that [Afrikaners] can assimilate easily into our country? It isn’t about the fact that they are white. They all speak English. They are, by and large, capitalists. They agree with fundamental constitutional rights that are being violated in South Africa. It has nothing to do with the color of their skin, and everything to do with the ideas that they hold, and the cultural hallmarks that they bear in common with the United States…
“That may not hold true for Afghan refugees, where you literally have no idea what their ideas are. They don’t speak English. There are a lot of things culturally that they do not have in common with Americans, up to and including a belief in constitutional rights. Are we going to just pretend that all potential immigrants to the United States have an equivalent level of assimilative capability?”
Ben Shapiro, Daily Wire
