Why Give Special Treatment to South African Refugees?

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Why are we focusing on support for South African Refugees?

Over the last few days, there have been increasing reports that the Trump administration will start granting refugee status to South Africans of Afrikaans decent.

I invite civil, bipartisan discussion on this post.

As my last African Politics Class at Iowa State was in about 2007, my knowledge is slightly dated – the last two stories I remember about South Africa specifically are questions about which of Jacob Zuma’s wives would be first lady when he won in 2009, and when the African National Committee (ANC) lost power for the first time in decades in 2024.

According to one article in The Guardian, Afrikaners are still faring better than the general population in South Africa. I have also seen articles claiming a lot of the population is eager to come to the United States but I do question if 70,000 people looking to claim asylum are truly doing so due to fear of persecution or other reasons with a total Afrikaans population of around 4.6 million in the country.

I believe it is important to welcome refugees, and I am thankful that Robert Ray was a driver for such programs in Iowa, bringing in the Tai Dam from Southeast Asia as a result of conflicts in the 1970s. If widespread conflict and violence is causing undue harm to people in South Africa, I absolutely believe we should bring them in.

At the same exact time the Trump Administration is looking to welcome South African refugees, they were blocked from revoking legal status from people from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela and then asked the Supreme Court to weigh in. They were even looking to revoke legal status of Ukrainian refugees.

I fully support asylum claims and helping resettle refugees in the United States. But why is the Trump Administration choosing to support South African Refugees while turning their backs on those from other countries?

While his administration looks to overturn legal status for migrants of many countries, they are also considering suspending habeas corpus, and continuing brutal roundups of migrants in Massachusetts with ICE agents refusing to show a warrant, saying “we don’t have to show you anything.”

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-s1-5391815/first-afrikaners-granted-refugee-status-due-to-arrive-in-u-s

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/01/nx-s1-4987616/south-africa-election-results

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/which-wife-will-become-south-africas-first-lady/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/06/white-afrikaner-donald-trump-america-us-administration

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjevg2vlwk4o

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa#Demographics

https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/2687/robert-d-ray-iowa-governor-humanitarian-leader

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