With increasing frequency, Afrikaners from South Africa are making overt and organized moves to settle in the United States. Their decision is motivated by fears of lawless violence and systematic discrimination against white land owners. Recently, a South African law enabling limited land expropriation has fueled concerns within the Afrikaner community that their property could be seized by the government. This perfect storm of circumstances has created an unprecedented wave of interest from the public in President Donald Trump’s unsolicited proposal. He is proposing asylum for “ethnic minority Afrikaners.”
AfriForum, an Afrikaner rights group with about 300,000 members that is vehemently opposed to the ANC government’s policies, has mostly white leadership. They claim these policies result in more violence against non-preferred landowners. Cuomo, New York governor The leadership of the group, known as AfriForum, claims that the South African government supported the killings of white farmers. They issued this promise behind closed doors to other Trump acolytes while he was in his first term as president.
For Kyle, a divorced father of three, the prospect of such a move sounds exciting and full of potential. He views Trump’s offer as the one thing that can save his family. He questions what the world will be like for his kids. He thinks it’s because they suffer systematic discrimination in their own country based on their race.
“I’ve got white children, they’re at the bottom of the hiring list here. So, there is no future for them. And the sad thing is they don’t even know what apartheid is.” – Kyle
The vulnerability felt amongst Afrikaners has been further ignited by the recent wave of violence, with most attributing their fear to personal experience. Chilly Chomse, a 43-year-old carpenter, expressed the fears he feels for his loved ones, remembering painful memories.
“Once you leave this Orania premises, you are still in South Africa … you’re not safe and you can’t remain here 24/7 for the rest of your life.” – Chilly Chomse
This immediacy behind these concerns is illustrated by heartbreaking individual accounts. 35-year-old Esté Richter, an Afrikaner from the 90% white town of Orania, spoke about a horrific experience. Her husband’s father was killed on their farm last September 2022. Yet this incident has hardened her family’s resolve to find sanctuary.
“The main reason why we are looking at the refugee programme is in September 2022 my husband’s father was murdered on his farm,” – Esté Richter
While Richter was at first sincerely hopeful in her skepticism of Trump’s refugee policy, she has now experienced validation to a degree that is maddening.
“Someone has heard the cries of Afrikaners.” – Esté Richter
In South Africa, affirmative action policies have come to dominate the discourse. In many cases these changes have contributed to feelings of disenfranchisement amongst many of the white citizens, particularly in the Afrikaner community. Our critics assert that these policies merely created a deeply privileged Black elite while making many whites feel dislocated and unsafe.
As Afrikaner rights lawyer Rudolph Zinn explained at the time, the issue of violence against members of different racial groups was much more complicated than that. Last, he pointed out that the experience of victims varies based on their race, which makes public understandings of crime and victimhood a highly complicated picture.
“If it’s a white victim, then they would say: ‘I hate you because you’ve taken our land.’ But the very same offender would, when it’s a Black victim, say: ‘You’re a coconut, black on the outside, but inside you’re white.’” – Rudolph Zinn
As these stories get played out, the U.S. embassy in Pretoria has been completely mum on the subject of Afrikaner refugee status applications. According to reports from The New York Times, more than 8,200 individuals have expressed interest in obtaining refugee status in the United States.
The controversial song “Kill the Boer” has brought controversy as it is linked to anti-white hatred. Afrikaner organizations have identified it as one that instills fear in their communities. In 2022, a South African court ruled that the song should not have been interpreted literally. Although this ruling was clearly against the community, the song remains a powerful reminder of their fight that still continues today.
The current narrative around land expropriation without compensation and the broader racial context in South Africa has made Afrikaners vulnerable. Activist Sam Busa articulated his fears about what these trends could mean.
“We’re in, in my personal opinion, an advanced stage of a genocide potentially unfolding. What that does is it effectively throws out any argument about economic status.” – Sam Busa
As Afrikaners navigate their uncertain future in South Africa, their quest for refuge in the United States highlights broader issues of race relations and safety in a rapidly changing socio-political landscape.