Uncle Sam welcomes Afrikaners - but there's no sign here of 'white genocide'

South Africans arrived at Dulles airport last week to seek asylum at Donald Trump's behest. Fred Harter asks what they are fleeing from

- Fred Harter

The 59 arrivals landed at Dulles international airport on Monday – holding US flags, smiling and looking a little bewildered. These were the first refugees to be welcomed to Donald Trump's America: white Afrikaners.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order effectively halting the admission of tens of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution around the world, including Afghans who had worked with the US military. Shortly afterwards, though, he made a special exception for white South Africans.

More than 8,000 Afrikaners have applied for asylum in the US. Trump last week claimed that white farmers in South Africa are being "brutally killed" and their "land is being confiscated". He told reporters: "It's a genocide that's taking place, that you people don't want to write about, but it's a terrible thing."

The same claim has been made by Elon Musk, who is South African. In 2023, he said that president Cyril Ramaphosa refused to condemn those "openly pushing for a genocide of white people in South Africa".

The idea of a "white genocide" has a long history in both US and South African rightwing circles. Though its roots stretch back to the early 20th century, it was popularised by conspiracy theorist bloggers in the late 1990s. The idea began to move from obscure corners of the internet towards the political mainstream during the first Trump administration.