USA is increasing the intake of South African refugees to 4,500 per month, according to a memorandum from the State Department obtained by Reuters. Their testimony may come to influence the public debate in the United States. Biden flew in hundreds of thousands from the Caribbean; this overburdened states and created lawlessness. South Africans may become an entirely different story. But for the Left they have the wrong skin colour.
President Donald Trump has previously set a far lower target – that the United States will admit a maximum of 7,500 refugees from the entire world in 2026.
The higher figure that appears in a document from the U.S. Department of State, to which the news agency Reuters refers, is connected with the fact that applications from white South Africans have accumulated. In order to clear the volume of applications, the United States is now expanding capacity at the embassy in Pretoria, according to the document.
Last year the South African Chamber of Commerce in the United States stated that over 67,000 people had expressed interest in moving to the United States after Trump last year opened for the admission of white South African refugees.
So far only 2,000 white South Africans have been granted entry into the United States as refugees, according to figures as of 31 January. Trump’s programme entered into force in May 2025.
Trump has maintained that white South Africans are subjected to discrimination and violence. Europe has to a limited extent been willing to receive white South Africans, despite the fact that they represent qualified labour and are motivated to make a contribution to society.
The pace of processing applications has admittedly increased in recent months, but the new and higher target of 4,500 persons per month may be confronted with new administrative delays in Washington. This is connected with the fact that the authorities in recent weeks have temporarily closed for all refugee entries into the country, including white South Africans, according to a U.S. official to whom Reuters has spoken.
The White House refers questions in the matter to the U.S. Department of State. Neither the Department of State nor the Department of Homeland Security has responded to Reuters’ questions in the matter. (NTB)
When South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was at the White House, he denied statements from Trump that white South Africans were being persecuted on account of their skin colour. This goes directly into the political struggle in the United States, where the Democrats have politicised skin colour and used it as a political weapon. The Republicans have been reluctant to raise the case of the Boers, but Trump has not retreated from this.