…49 Afrikaners arrived in the United States on Monday May 12 as “refugees.” President Trump gave them priority status, which means they waited no more than three months for their resettlement. Many refugees from other countries are forced to wait 18 to 24 months, and sometimes even years, for their resettlement assignment. Trump banned virtually all other refugees on his first day in office, including people fleeing active war zones like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and others.
White South Africans have made unsubstantiated claims of reverse racism and genocide, which have been echoed by Trump.
Since taking office, Donald Trump’s administration has virtually shut down refugee admissions and blocked funding for resettlement groups, stranding thousands of people who were granted entry to the United States for humanitarian protections only to have those offers rescinded.
But the president has singled out one specific group of people who will be allowed entry into the United States and appear to be on a fast track to citizenship: white South Africans.
A group of 59 white South Africans admitted to the United States as “refugees” have been “essentially extended citizenship,” Trump said on Monday.
A group of South Africans are welcomed by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau at Washington Dulles International Airport on May 12 (Getty Images)
They were greeted by State Department officials on Monday after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport on a taxpayer-funded flight following their fast-tracked refugee vetting process under the administration’s radically reshaped admissions program.
The president claims white South Africans are victims of “genocide,” echoing a white supremacist conspiracy theory alleging immigration and forced assimilation threaten the existence of white people — a claim that has fueled racist hate and violence against minority groups as well as parallel conspiracy theories like the so-called “great replacement” theory.
Trump and his Republican allies have routinely amplified a bogus “great replacement” theory that claims Democratic officials are allowing immigrants into the country to manipulate elections. The idea is behind Trump’s anti-immigration agenda as well his executive orders and legislation in Congress taking aim at voter registration and election administration.
“When it comes to race and immigration issues, the Trump administration is about as subtle as an air raid,” America’s Voice executive director Vanessa Cárdenas said in a statement to The Independent.
“While they single out white Afrikaners for special treatment and resettlement, they falsely slander Black and brown refugees and immigrants as dangerous threats and ‘invaders’ — including those who have been vetted with background checks — despite all of the statistical evidence to the contrary,” she added. “It’s inherently hypocritical and ugly, but unfortunately par for the course for this administration.”
The president has previously compared efforts from the South African government to combat racial inequalities from apartheid to anti-white discrimination, and South African officials have accused the administration of using claims from white Afrikaners to undermine the country’s genocide case against Israel now before the International Court of Justice.
White Afrikaners, descendants of Europeans who arrived in the country centuries ago, claim to have been denied jobs and become targets of violence for their race — claims that exploded with new legislation regulating property expropriation.
Viral misinformation claimed dozens of daily murders of white farmers. But it’s been estimated that roughly 50 farmers total, from all racial groups, were killed annually in a country that recorded more than 19,000 murders between January and September 2024.
Still, Trump announced in February he was cutting off funding to South Africa — most of which goes to efforts to combat HIV/AIDS — because the government was “confiscating land” and “treating certain classes of people very badly.”
Trump’s adviser Elon Musk — born to a wealthy family in Pretoria — called South Africa’s property law “openly racist” and accused a Black nationalist political party of “actively promoting white genocide.”
White farmers own roughly 70 percent of commercial farmland in the country despite white South Africans making up about 7 percent of the population. Fewer than 150 attacks involving farmers occurred during the entirety of 2023, according to the Afrikaaner political group AfriForum.
Trump claimed white South Africans are victims of ‘genocide’ as he defended his administration granting them refugee status while stripping refugee admissions for virtually all other groups (REUTERS)
Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration froze refugee admissions, blocking people fleeing famine and war from countries like Afghanistan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Within just two days of Trump’s inauguration, resettlement groups were blindsided by the administration’s order to suspend all refugee entries and cancel all flights for incoming refugees — even for thousands of people who were already cleared for entry with U.S. sponsorships and support from families and aid groups.
In February, the administration also abruptly announced plans to terminate contracts with refugee resettlement and assistance groups 24 hours after a federal judge ordered the government to restore funding to aid organizations.
Brief messages from the State Department told refugee groups that their contracts were “terminated for the convenience of the U.S. Government pursuant to a directive” from Secretary of State Marco Rubio for “alignment with agency priorities and the national interest.”
Other messages told aid groups that funding is “immediately terminated” because it “no longer effectuates agency priorities,” according to court filings and statements to The Independent.
Earlier this month, a federal court ordered the administration to put forward a plan for resettling roughly 12,000 refugees who had flights booked for the United States when Trump’s refugee ban was announced. The lead plaintiff in that case, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was approved for resettlement and scheduled to travel to the United States on January 22 with his wife and baby son.
“Refugee resettlement existed as a successful bipartisan humanitarian program for decades until President Trump suspended resettlement through a cruel and unlawful Executive Order on day one of his administration,” International Refugee Assistance Project senior supervising attorney Melissa Keaney said in a statement to The Independent.
“Refugees, including those who were already approved and scheduled to travel to the United States, had their dreams of a new beginning ripped from them, leaving them in an uncertain and unsafe limbo,” she added. “Admitting Afrikaners through a fast and efficient process while ignoring multiple court orders to process refugees who have been waiting for years to restart their lives in safety represents yet another attempt to politicize refugee resettlement by the Trump administration.”
The same day Trump announced the arrival of white South African refugees, the administration stripped temporary protected status for Afghans already in the United States, formally lifting a shield that protects them from being deported.
The administration argues that conditions in the Taliban-run country no longer merit protections for their stay in the United States.
Asked on Monday why white South Africans are the exception, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau told reporters that criteria for refugee admissions include whether they can be “assimilated easily into our country.”
“The president has recognized the dire situation for this particular group of people,” he said.
Tshishiku Henry, a former refugee and Washington State Delegate for the Refugee Congress, speaks during a rally outside a federal courthouse after a judge blocked Trump’s effort to halt the nation’s refugee admissions system in February (AP)
Asked why he carved out refugee admissions for a group of white South Africans while suspending resettlement for all other vulnerable groups, Trump told reporters: “Because they’re being killed, and we don’t want to see people killed.”
“It’s a genocide that’s taking place that you people don’t want to write about,” he told reporters on Monday.
“Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white. But whether they’re white or Black makes no difference to me. But white farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa,” according to Trump. “I don’t care who they are. I don’t care who they are. I don’t care about their race, their color, I don’t care about their height, their weight.”
Refugees typically cover the cost of their own travel to the United States through interest-free loans that must be paid back. But the State Department-chartered flight that brought a group of South Africans to the United States comes at taxpayers’ expense.
“Thousands of refugees have been thrust into limbo after clearing an extensive vetting process, including Afghan allies, religious minorities, and other families facing extreme persecution,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of national refugee settlement nonprofit group Global Refuge, said in a statement to The Independent.
“As we see the system restart, it’s imperative that the U.S. government act to welcome all refugees who meet longstanding legal standards, regardless of their nationality,” she said.
Calling Trump corrupt and a threat to America are not opinions. They are objective statements of fact.
ZETEO by John Harwood, March 12, 2025 John Harwood is an American journalist. He was the White House Correspondent for CNN from February 2021 until September 2022, after working as an editor-at-large for CNBC. He was the chief Washington Correspondent for CNBC and a contributor for The New York Times. Wikipedia
>> Donald Trump’s corrupt, chaotic presidency has propelled a long-running journalistic debate: how to accurately characterize the threat he poses to America.
Indeed, my opening paragraph itself provides grist for that debate. Can a fair-minded reporter flatly describe the president as corrupt and a threat to America itself? Are those facts?
Many colleagues I respect would answer “no.” When I interviewed the great newspaper editor Marty Baron a couple of weeks ago, he cautioned that such descriptions allow Trump to discredit journalists as partisans and are best left to opinion pages.
But I say, “Yes.” Calling Trump corrupt and a threat to America are not opinions. They are objective statements of fact. [emphasis added here – BenIndy]
I never expected to reach this point when I became a journalist 47 years ago. I did not pursue opinion journalism for a reason. My model was my father, Richard Harwood, who built his stellar Washington Post career on fearless reporting and news analysis.
Indeed, dad was appointed the Post’s first ombudsman after an earlier Republican president, Richard Nixon, howled about biased journalism the way Trump denounces “fake news.” An orphaned kid from the Midwest on a newspaper stocked with Ivy Leaguers, he found merit in some of those complaints.
So I began my career at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, well aware of the need to fairly reflect different viewpoints – Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, police officers and college professors, Blacks and whites. My first big political profile was a sympathetic look at a GOP retiree legendary for her success in rounding up votes within her condominium complex.
Crediting the legitimacy of both sides wasn’t difficult then. American politics did not neatly sort the good guys from the bad guys.
John Harwood is an American journalist. He was the White House Correspondent for CNN from February 2021 until September 2022, after working as an editor-at-large for CNBC. He was the chief Washington Correspondent for CNBC and a contributor for The New York Times. Wikipedia
For those of you who attended the premier Fiestas Primavera late March last year, you know what a tremendous success it was. The opening ceremonial blessing of the land, followed by incredible and unique music and dance performances all day long, along with beautiful artwork contributed by local professional and student artists, poetry and essay readings, interactive exploration of one’s own heritage and what brought families or ancestors to the Bay Area, excellent authentic food and crafts, along with the spirit of inclusivity were key elements to the day. Over 2000 people attended, despite the rain.
The goal of honoring all of the people who contributed culturally, economically, and socially to making the Bay area what it is today was achieved. People of all ages, ethnicities, genders and orientations, and socio-economic levels came together to celebrate the coming of spring, and everyone was welcomed. It was truly a meaningful and spectacular event.
The spirit of this event inspired the young people of our town, resulting in their annual self-led La Migra game taking a different form – one that is not based on trauma or racists practices. One that does not involve hazing or any threats to public and personal safety. Our students were involved in the creation and participation of Fiestas Primavera and took the message to heart – the emulation of a brutal and terrifying practice which targets and belittles a group of marginalized people is never an appropriate teen activity.
Fiestas Primavera has marked an historic beginning in Benicia. And for next year’s event, the host of Fiestas Primavera, Solano Aids Coalition, is in partnership with the Benicia Performing Arts Foundation, host of the Diversity Festival, to bring an even richer and more culturally diverse event to our community. Fiestas Primavera and the Diversity Festival is now one big event! Other collaborators include the Benicia School District, the Kyle Hyland Teen Center, the Benicia Public Library, Benicia Black Lives Matter, and many others.
Benicia Fiestas Primavera Celebrates Diversity is to take place on Saturday, April 5th in the City (Gazebo) Park. Like this year, there will be engaging performances and displays of all culturally artistic types, on two stages – not just one. The art and educational tent will continue to be a prominent feature, and there will be children’s activities to keep the young engaged. Culturally appropriate food and arts and craft vendors also make their appearance again. And to add to the celebration of diversity, the Benicia LBTGQIA is hoping to unveil their new public mural which will face the park behind the downtown fire station that morning. It will truly be an event not to miss.
In order to raise the capital needed for this spectacular plan, there will be a series of fun public fundraisers. The first one will be on Sunday, October 27 at Drift, 366 1st Street. To bring the spirit of Fiestas Primavera to life, the owners of Drift are offering a Pasta “Primavera” dinner, including pasta, Caesar salad, a glass of wine, and dessert, all for $60 per plate. Andy and Ruben Brunt (Uncommonwealth) and Sobrecuerdas will provide live dinner music. There will be two seatings, 5:00 and 6:30pm. Since this is a small venue, reservations are required. To reserve a table, please contact Monica at Monica@DriftBenicia.com or leave a message at 707-750-6516. Monica needs your name, number in your party, and preferred seating time. If you’re able to join us, you must make your reservation no later than Tuesday, October 22nd, or you won’t have a table.
And watch for more fun activities leading up to April 5, 2025!
Benicia Fiestas Primavera Celebrates Diversity is for all of us. It is a way to honor the depth and breadth of our complete history and culture. Please join us in making Benicia a fully inclusive and welcoming community through our educational and cultural celebration.
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