The Trump administration has closed the border between the U.S. and Mexico and essentially stopped the flow of immigrants and refugees into the U.S. Despite Trump’s extreme anti-immigration platform, his administration has granted white South Africans also known as Afrikaners refugee status. Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, visited President Trump in the oval office yesterday. During this meeting, Trump continued to claim the South African government was targeting white South Africans.
This comes after reports of racial discrimination and violent crimes targeted at the Afrikaners. The Afrikaner farmers claim that they have been targeted and have suffered from violence. However, the South African government released a statement challenging the Afrikaner claims, stating “The South Africa Police Services statistics on farm related crimes do not support allegations of violent crime targeted at farmers generally or any particular race.”
During the meeting with Trump and Ramaphosa, Trump provided so-called evidence of violence committed against Afrikaners by the South African government. Trump showed a video of white crosses lining a road in South Africa, which he claimed was a burial site. In reality, the crosses were placed as a form of protest against the murder of two farmers in a robbery that took place five years ago. Trump also printed articles which supposedly included details of “horrible death.” However, some of the articles were later revealed as opposition parties’ blog posts and one article was actually covering an event from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The U.S. embassy in South Africa also released a statement stating that “America will take action to protect victims of racial discrimination.” Ironically, one of the Afrikaner refugees who landed in the U.S. this past week has made several anti-simetic comments on social media. The man described Jewish people as “a dangerous group” and “untrustworthy” on X.
The favoritism of white immigrants from the Trump administration and the even more apparent distaste for immigrants of color goes against the very rules which the Government is claiming to follow.
On top of the Trump administration’s clear racial bias, many believe that because of the immense wealth among the Afrikaner population, there is no need for their refugee status.
While the end of the Apartheid government is often associated with the end of oppression for Black people in South Africa, that is simply not the case.
Since the creation of African National Congress (ANC) by Nelson Mandela, there has been minimal economic growth for Black people and people of color in South Africa. Meanwhile, among the white South African population there has been continuous economic growth.
The Trump administration has not just granted refugee status to white South Africans, but the deputy secretary of state and deputy secretary of homeland security greeted the white families when they landed. The administration has gone above and beyond for a racial group which continues to benefit from a system of injustice while practically ignoring the majority of the South African population who are still suffering from severe racial discrimination.
