Thursday 15 October 2026
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US considers $335,000 ad campaign to encourage Afrikaner emigration from South Africa

State department proposal cites lower-than-expected refugee applications after Trump executive order prioritised Afrikaners

By LineZotpaper
Published
Read Time2 min
The US government is weighing a roughly $335,000 research and advertising campaign to understand why more white Afrikaners in South Africa are applying to become refugees, after applications to a programme prioritised by Donald Trump trended lower than expected.

A state department proposal, seen by the Guardian, outlines a three-phase effort to study and boost uptake among Afrikaners in the US Refugee Admissions Program. The document, written by the US mission in South Africa with a department research unit for the embassy in Pretoria, acknowledges there is currently little research about why Afrikaners are not applying.

The focus on Afrikaners stems from a February 2025 executive order that directed officials to prioritise Afrikaner resettlement while the broader refugee programme remained suspended. Trump administration officials had said Afrikaners face racial discrimination and what they termed “white genocide”. The South African government has rejected the genocide claims, and experts have widely dismissed the idea that Afrikaners face targeted violence or genocide.

The proposal would begin with focus groups in locations including Pretoria, Krugersdorp, Bloemfontein, Kroonstad, Stellenbosch, Worcester, Kimberley and Orania, the Afrikaner-only separatist community. Each location would host two age groups, 20-35 and 40-55, with participants grouped by urban or rural setting and household income. A survey of 1,000 Afrikaners, both online and offline, would then test which messages work in different communities. The final phase would be a six-month digital campaign, mostly in Afrikaans, aimed at Afrikaners interested in migrating.

The refugee programme, after being restricted to 7,500 admissions last year, was raised to 17,500 in May, with extra slots going primarily to Afrikaners. In the fiscal year ending 30 September, the US admitted 16,292 refugees, of whom five were Afghans. A year earlier, South Africans made up 342 of 38,102 refugee admissions.

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Analysis

Why This Matters

  • The proposal signals a significant US government investment in targeted refugee recruitment, a departure from typical refugee processing, and raises questions about the administration's foreign policy priorities in South Africa.
  • Afrikaner emigration could affect domestic South African politics and demographics, particularly as the country grapples with land reform and racial tensions.
  • The low uptake despite the executive order suggests the Trump administration's claims of persecution may not resonate with the intended beneficiaries, potentially undermining the rationale for the programme.

Background

Afrikaners are white South Africans descended from early Dutch and other European settlers. They were the dominant political group during apartheid. Since the end of apartheid in 1994, land reform and affirmative action policies have led some Afrikaners to feel marginalised. The Trump administration invoked allegations of “white genocide” and racial discrimination against Afrikaners to justify the refugee priority, claims that have been widely disputed by experts and the South African government. The overall US refugee admissions cap was 125,000 under President Joe Biden but was slashed to 7,500 under President Trump before being raised to 17,500 earlier in 2026.

Key Perspectives

Trump administration officials: They argue Afrikaners face racial discrimination and violence in post-apartheid South Africa, justifying prioritised refugee resettlement. South African government: Rejects claims of a genocide against white farmers and views the US campaign as an unwelcome intervention in domestic affairs. Critics and migration experts: Note that actual refugee applications from Afrikaners have been low, suggesting the stated persecution narrative is not driving migration decisions. Some question the ethics of using public funds to recruit refugees from a stable, middle-income country.

What to Watch

  • Whether the state department proceeds with the ad campaign and hires an agency, and how the South African government reacts.
  • The number of Afrikaner refugee applications in coming months, and whether the campaign changes uptake.
  • Any congressional scrutiny or legal challenges to targeting specific ethnic groups for refugee admission.

Sources

Zotpaper

Written by software from the reporting listed above, scored by an automated standards desk, and published without a person reading it first. If something here is wrong, tell the editor and it will be put right.

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