U.S. to accept white South African refugees while other programs remain paused

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will welcome more than two dozen white South Africans to the United States as refugees next week, an unusual move because it has suspended most refugee resettlement operations, officials and documents said Friday.

The first Afrikaner refugees are arriving Monday at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, according to a document obtained by the Associated Press. They are expected to be greeted by a government delegation, including the deputy secretary of state and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, which has organized their resettlement under its Office for Refugee Resettlement.

The flight will be the first of several in a “much larger-scale relocation effort,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters.

“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” he said. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution.”

State Department refugee programs have been put on hold since President Trump ordered a review in February. While halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and throughout Latin America, Trump also issued an executive order prioritizing the processing of white South Africans who claim racial discrimination in their home country.

“The U.S. Embassy in Pretoria has been conducting interviews and processing pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” the State Department said. “The Department of State is prioritizing consideration for U.S. refugee resettlement of Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.”

The department said nothing about the imminent arrival of what officials said are believed to be more than two dozen white South Africans from roughly four families who had applied for resettlement in the U.S. Their arrival had originally been scheduled for early last week but was delayed for reasons that were not immediately clear.

The Health department’s refugee office was ready to offer them support, including with housing, furniture and other household items, and expenses like groceries, clothing, diapers and more, the document says. “This effort is a stated priority of the Administration.”

The Health department didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

The Trump administration has taken an outspoken adversarial position in regard to South Africa, which is the homeland of close Trump advisor Elon Musk and also holds the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio notably boycotted a G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg in March because its main agenda centered on diversity, inclusion and climate change. Rubio also expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S. in March for comments that the Trump administration interpreted as accusing the president of promoting white supremacy.

Shortly thereafter, the State Department ended all engagement with the G20 during South Africa’s presidency. The U.S. is due to host G20 meetings in 2026.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement Friday that he had spoken with Trump late last month on issues including the U.S.‘ criticism of South Africa and the Trump administration’s allegations that Afrikaners are being persecuted. Ramaphosa told Trump that the information the U.S. president had received “was completely false,” the statement said.

“Therefore, our position is that there are no South African citizens that can be classified as refugees to any part of the world, including the U.S.,” the statement from Ramaphosa’s office said.

South African Deputy Foreign Minister Alvin Botes spoke with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau on Friday about the refugees, the South African Foreign Ministry said. Landau is expected to lead the delegation to welcome the refugees Monday.

The Foreign Ministry said South Africa had “expressed concerns with the information conveyed that the United States has commenced with processing alleged refugees from South Africa and will begin resettling these citizens in the United States.”

The Foreign Ministry said the allegations of discrimination against Afrikaners in South Africa “are unfounded.”

“It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy; a country which has in fact suffered true persecution under apartheid rule and has worked tirelessly to prevent such levels of discrimination from ever occurring again,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Foreign Ministry said it was challenging the U.S. assessments of “alleged refugee status” but would not block anyone who wanted to leave the country as it respected their freedom of movement and choice.

The Foreign Ministry said it was seeking information from the U.S. over the “status” of the people leaving South Africa and if they were going to the U.S. as refugees, asylum seekers or “ordinary citizens.” It said it wanted assurances that the people leaving had been properly vetted and did not have outstanding criminal cases against them in South Africa.

It said South Africa was “dedicated to constructive dialogue” with the U.S.

South African Foreign Ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri told the Associated Press: “Yes, we are told that there are people who are leaving. We are saying, ‘What is their status? Are they leaving as asylum seekers, are they leaving as refugees, or are they leaving as South African citizens, and they are going on some free joyride?’ It’s a question we’ve put to them.”

Lee and Santana write for the Associated Press. AP writers Michelle Gumede in Johannesburg, Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, and Seung Min Kim and Amanda Seitz in Washington contributed to this report.