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Second group of white Afrikaners arrives in the US amid Trump's resettlement offer

Second group of white Afrikaners arrives in the US amid Trump's resettlement offer

IOL News01-06-2025
The second batch of Afrikaner refugees arrived in the US on Friday. Pictured are US President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, during a meeting which aimed to clear misinformation about genocide claims.
A small batch of white Afrikaners quietly arrived in the US on Friday, as part of President Donald Trump's offer to resettle them amidst false claims of white genocide and persecution in South Africa.
They are part of 8,000 who will be resettled within the next few months, according to Jaco Kleynhans, head of Public Relations for trade union Solidarity.
Last month the first group of more than 49 white South African Afrikaners landed in the United States after a private plane was chartered for them.
This after Trump in February issued an executive order where Washington cited the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 as one that enables the persecution of Afrikaners.
Kleynhans said the second group departed on a commercial flight on Thursday that landed in Atlanta in the US on Friday.
'It is a smaller group, including children. Several more groups will fly to the USA over the next few weeks. The US Embassy in Pretoria, in collaboration with the State Department in Washington DC, is currently processing 8,000 applications, and we expect many more Afrikaner refugees to travel to the USA over the next few months.
"They are settling in states across the USA, but particularly southern states such as Texas, North and South Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska,' Kleynhans said.
Reports indicate that the US embassy in South Africa is aware that 'refugees continue to arrive in the United States from South Africa on commercial flights as part of the Afrikaner resettlement programme's ongoing operations'.
Solidarity said it has helped some people understand the application process better and referred them to the right people at the US embassy. They have also assisted the US government in determining the criteria for Afrikaner refugee status.
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