CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump has expanded the number of refugee places available for white South Africans, saying there have been “recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence” against them by their Black-led government and other political parties.
It’s not clear what incitement Trump was referring to when his administration made the announcement Tuesday of 10,000 additional places for white South Africans in the refugee program this year to raise it to 17,500.
It’s Trump’s latest contention that minority white Afrikaners are being persecuted, which the South African government denies.
Here’s a look at what Trump says is happening to white people in South Africa to justify their resettlement and why his position that they are being persecuted is condemned as baseless:
Attacks on farmers
Trump laid the foundation for the resettlement of Afrikaners in an executive order last year that said they were victims of racial violence fueled by government actions.
Afrikaners are white South Africans descended from mainly Dutch and French settlers who first came to South Africa in the 1600s.
The U.S. has cited a small number of home attacks on white farmers as evidence of racial persecution. The South African government and analysts say that’s a distortion of the facts, because Black farmers and farmworkers are also killed and injured in what are largely violent robberies and not racial attacks.
It’s true that South Africa has a violent crime problem that affects all races, including white farmers.
There were more than 23,000 homicides across South Africa from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, according to official annual crime statistics, affecting all races but mostly the poor Black majority. In comparison, there were 29 homicides on farms in 2025, according to the Afrikaner lobby group, AfriForum. Farm killings represent about 0.1% of homicides.
South African police say Black people were also killed in those farm homicides, though they don’t typically break rural crimes down as a separate category or by the race of victims.
AfriForum, the Afrikaner group at the forefront of raising concerns over rural crimes, also doesn’t publish how many Black farmers and farmworkers were killed, saying it “does not racialize the issue.”
Anti-white rhetoric
The Trump administration said that a recent increase in incitement to racial violence by the South African government and other politicians led to “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation” and “grave humanitarian concerns” for Afrikaners.
It wasn’t clear what he was referring to, because there has been no public incitement to violence by the South African government, which is made up of a coalition of 10 political parties — some of which are led by white people. White people, including some with Afrikaner heritage, serve in South Africa’s Cabinet.
Afrikaners are part of South Africa’s white minority, which also includes white people with British and other heritage. There are around 4.5 million white people in South Africa’s population of 62 million, which is more than 80% Black, but also has other minorities with Indian and multiracial heritage.
Allegations of an “emergency refugee situation” for Afrikaners aren’t reflected in everyday life in South Africa, where Afrikaners are prominent politicians, business leaders and sports stars.
