Trump seeks to bring first group of white South Africans to US next week amid controversy: 10 points

The United States has granted refugee status to 54 white Afrikaner South Africans, who could arrive as soon as Monday in Washington DC. According to Reuters, the Donald Trump administration is aiming to bring the first group of white South Africans to the United States via its refugee program as soon as next week.

Here are ten things you need to know in the story:

-The Trump administration is set to resettle the first group of white South Africans in the US next week, according to media reports on Friday. Despite the broad refugee freeze, Trump in February called on the U.S. to prioritize resettling Afrikaners, descendants of mostly Dutch early settlers, saying they were "victims of unjust racial discrimination."

-In February, Trump signed an executive order directing his government to grant refugee status to Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch and French colonisers who he claimed were discriminated against.


-Trump is locked in a diplomatic row with South Africa over a land expropriation act that the Republican leader says will lead to the takeover of white-owned farms.

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-Trump, whose tycoon ally Elon Musk was born in South Africa, has said the law signed in January would "enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without compensation". It allows the government, as a matter of public interest, to decide on expropriations without compensation -- but only in exceptional circumstances.

-The resettlement plan was first reported by US investigative outlet The Lever, which quoted an April 30 memo saying that the South Africans were scheduled to arrive "within a few days". Washington was preparing to resettle up to 1,000 Afrikaners this year, The Lever said, quoting a government source.

-South Africa had "expressed concern" to the United States after reports it will accept from next week the first white Afrikaners it had offered resettlement, the foreign ministry said Friday.

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-"We reiterate that allegations of discrimination are unfounded," it said in a statement. "It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being 'refugees' is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa's constitutional democracy," the statement said.

-Trump said in February he would prioritise access to a refugee programme "for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination," despite halting refugee arrivals to the United States immediately after taking office. He also issued an executive order to freeze US aid to South Africa over the law.

-Trump kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January, including an indefinite suspension of refugee resettlement. In a related executive order, the Republican president said the U.S. would only admit refugees who "can fully and appropriately assimilate."

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-The Afrikaners are descendants of European colonists, mainly of Dutch extraction, and are mainly engaged in farming in South Africa. English and Afrikaner colonists ruled South Africa until 1994 under a brutal system in which the black majority were deprived of political and economic rights.

-The Afrikaners are descendants of European colonists, mainly of Dutch extraction, and are mainly engaged in farming in South Africa. English and Afrikaner colonists ruled South Africa until 1994 under a brutal system in which the black majority were deprived of political and economic rights.

(With inputs from agencies)