The US government cited an “unforeseen emergency” in South Africa as the reason for expanding the refugee program. However, only white minority South Africans – who are allegedly being persecuted on racial grounds in their country – will be granted refugee status. Accusing the South African government, the Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that a genocide is underway against white Africans. strongly deny.
Experts also say there is no statistical evidence of increased crime targeting white farmers.
For Oscar van Heerden, research fellow at the Center for African Diplomacy and Leadership at the University of Johannesburg, it is based on a distorted understanding that aims to “undermine South Africa’s moral authority on the international stage by associating South Africa with the State of Israel.”
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, South Africa has been one of Israel’s harshest critics. In late 2023, Pretoria filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague against the Israeli government over allegations of genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza.
The case stems from Israel’s response to terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and others, and other extremist Islamic groups. Israel denies accusations of genocide and claims it has exercised its right to self-defense. It may take years to reach a final decision.
Trump’s views on South Africa
Essentially, according to van Heerden, US President Donald Trump is saying: How can a country like South Africa bring Israel before the ICJ for alleged genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, when South Africans themselves are committing genocide against white South Africans?
“He has this distorted notion in his mind that he will explain to the world that, after the Mandela years, we [South Africa] “They no longer have any moral authority in the world,” he told DW.
Through an emergency order in 2025, Trump made it possible for members of South Africa’s white minority groups to enter and resettle in the US. The US State Department’s decision now calls for increasing the annual cap on refugee admissions from 7,500 to 17,500 for the 2026 fiscal year. An additional 10,000 places are reserved exclusively for white South Africans. The State Department estimates that the expanded program will cost approximately $100 million (€87 million).
“This is a clear sign of an attempt to politicize security,” Gustavo de Carvalho, an expert on African governance and diplomacy at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), told DW.
De Carvalho said, “The narrative that white South Africans are being oppressed in South Africa has also resonated strongly within the far-right movement in the United States.”
“South Africa has a crime problem that is caused by the country’s vast social inequality and poverty,” van Heerden said. He emphasized that all sections of the population have been affected.
Tension in US-South Africa relations
According to de Carvalho, South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice and the country’s perceived closeness to countries such as Russia and Iran have created a lot of confusion and uncertainty in its relations with the US.
Diplomatic tension between the two countries is at its peak. The US government’s allegations of genocide against the white minority population are just one piece of the puzzle.
Trump’s administration has also cut aid to South Africa, boycotted last year’s G20 summit in Johannesburg, and excluded South Africa from this year’s G20 summit, which will be held in December 2026 at one of Trump’s resorts in Miami.
South Africa’s status among the BRICS countries also plays a role in Trump’s foreign policy.
“BRICS members are talking about breaking away from the dollar and trading in local currencies instead of the US dollar,” van Heerden said. “They have established a new development bank to compete with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. They are also moving toward multilateralism and away from a unipolar world dominated by the US.”
He said the US cannot engage in direct conflict with China, Russia or India; Major BRICS partners. That’s why, van Heerden says, he is targeting smaller partners like South Africa to impose punitive measures.
White South African refugees welcome, others not so much
While white South Africans are welcomed into the US, Washington is suspending its resettlement program for people fleeing war and persecution in countries such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan.
According to de Carvalho, this policy “seriously violates many of the principles surrounding the concept of refugee protection” when ethnic criteria rather than the risk people face are the deciding factor.
“US refugee policy is certainly not immigration policy,” de Carvalho said. He said it was an attempt to gain influence.
In fiscal year 2024, which began under then-President Joe Biden, the US admitted more than 100,000 refugees, about a third of whom were from Africa, including many Congolese refugees.
Trump’s refugee policy looks different. Of the approximately 6,700 refugees admitted to the US between October 2025 and May 2026, all but three came from South Africa.
“They don’t care about Africa, and they don’t care about refugees,” Van Heerden said.
America is in a period of fiscal consolidation, and Donald Trump needs to cut aid programs, charities, and the civil service – which he does.
“They have to rein in costs because America spends too much money on others, not its own citizens; after all, MAGA Make America Great Again (MAGA) is all about ‘America First,'” van Heerden said.
However, de Carvalho said this could have the opposite effect on the US: “This selective humanitarianism significantly weakens America’s ability to present itself as a global moral authority.”
This article was originally written in German