US claims ‘emergency refugee situation’ as it admits 10,000 more white South Africans

Nokusa Masuku

The United States government has announced plans to increase the number of white South Africans admitted as refugees this year from about 7,500 to 17,500, saying that “unforeseen developments in South Africa created an emergency refugee situation.”

The move comes amid continued claims by US President Donald Trump that white Afrikaners are being racially targeted and face what he has described as a “white genocide”,allegations strongly rejected by the South African government.

Since returning to office for a second term last year, Trump’s administration has taken a tougher stance on South Africa, including cutting aid, boycotting last year’s G20 summit in Johannesburg and excluding South Africa from this year’s G20 meeting set to be held in Miami.

The US began accepting white South Africans as refugees in May 2025, even as it suspended refugee settlement programmes for people fleeing conflict and persecution in countries such as Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan.

Before Trump’s return to office, the US admitted more than 100,000 refugees during the fiscal year ending September 2024, according to official figures.

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