US repeats erroneous claims of genocide as white Afrikaners welcomed – SABC News
United States (US) Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau has welcomed the 49 Afrikaners who arrived in the US following an executive order by President Donald Trump.
The US president offered them an expedited path to citizenship in the US after he erroneously claimed that genocide was happening in South Africa.
President Trump asked why he’s favouring Afrikaners coming as refugees into the USA while the entire US refugee programme, including for war-torn countries like Sudan/Congo etc is blocked:
President Trump reiterates his view that there is a genocide against white farmers…
— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) May 12, 2025
During a media briefing at Washington’s Dulles Airport in Virginia, Landau repeated Trump’s claims of the persecution of Afrikaners in South Africa.
“The United States stands for equal justice under law, and the fair and impartial application of the law. This is a group that has not experienced that and has to the contrary, experienced violence and fear for their lives in South Africa. They were subject to very serious, egregious, and targeted threats and we wish them well in their journey in the United States. We underscored for them that the American people are a welcoming and generous people.”
“A terrible situation”
Trump has again attacked the media for what he says is not covering genocide and land confiscations in South Africa.
The claims against South Africa have been widely debunked.
“The newspapers and the media and television media doesn’t even talk about it. If it were the other way around, they talk about it. That would be the only story they talk about. And, I don’t care who they are. I don’t care about their race, their colour. I don’t care about their height, their weight. I don’t care about anything. I just know that what’s happening is terrible. I have people that live in South Africa, they say it’s a terrible situation taking place. So we’ve essentially extended citizenship to those people, to escape from that violence and come here.”
Here’s the video of President Trump defending his decision to grant white Afrikaners refugee status and an expedited path to citizenship in the United States. Just ahead of the first group’s arrival at Dulles International Airport just outside D.C.#sabcnews https://t.co/TduENO7GVL pic.twitter.com/BUmlMt0KrJ
— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) May 12, 2025