CNN guest stuns studio with outrageous claim about white South African refugees allowed into the US
Former Obama and Biden campaign staffer Ashley Allison said white South Africans recently granted asylum in the US should flee to their 'native land' instead.
Allison offered the advice during a panel on CNN NewsNight Monday, as she reacted to the 59 white South Africans who have been granted refugee status in the US.
The foreigners, many of whom are farmers, have been allowed to settle in America after the president deemed them victims of racial discrimination.
The farmers are at risk of losing their land due to a new law which seeks to address the imbalance of land ownership in South Africa.
But many claim to have been targeted by violence amid the upheaval and have now been granted refugee status by Trump.
The decision has enraged Allison, who railed against their, 'special treatment' and insisted that the Afrikaners should go back to their ancestral lands, those of South Africa's colonizers, if they want to escape persecution.
She claimed that while she would be happy to accept refugees from the likes of Sudan or the Congo, she does not believe the US should accept the Afrikaners.
'If the Afrikaners don't actually like the land, they can leave that country, They can actually even go to where their native land is,' she argued.
🚨Scott Jennings sits and listens patiently as CNN Panelist Ashley Allison stutters through her understanding of "the history of South Africa."
"That allowed for a racial reconciliation — one that this country has yet to do."
"The people who are native to that land deserve… pic.twitter.com/BHngFEwynD
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 13, 2025
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The progressive commentator argued that white South Africans have an inherent advantage over their black counterparts, as an unconvinced Scott Jennings sat and waited as she stumbled through South Africa 's history.
First, she blamed the apartheid system, and its abolition more than 30 years ago, for the land situation, saying they reformed their constitution under Nelson Mandela, and that allowed for 'a racial reconciliation.'
'One that this country has yet to do,' Allison explained referencing the US. 'But South Africa did it, and they reformed their constitution. And part of that is that the people who are native to that land deserve their rightful land back.'
The former deputy director and senior policy advisor for the Obama White House Office of Public Engagement further claimed that this, 'is not what the Afrikaners actually want to have happen'. She specified that Afrikaners 'are the white Africans.'
'Who are not originally from Africa, who colonized South Africa also,' she continued, as some have accused the president of giving the white refugees special treatment. 'And so, that is what they are saying is discrimination.'
'Now, if the constitution in South Africa is discriminatory,' she continued, 'they have their checks and balances in that land just like we do and that is for them to.
'So if the Afrikaners don't actually like the land, they can leave that country,' she argued, leading to a reaction from Jennings in the form of one of a characteristic quip.
'They are. They're leaving to come here,' he pointed out - to which Allison simply said, 'No.'
'They can actually even go to where their native land is,' she elaborated, ignoring how Americans, for instance, also have heritage from countries other than the one they reside in.
The former Democratic operative then attempted to rattle off countries who carved out presences in South Africa over the centuries - starting in 1652.
'Probably Germany...' Allison said, grasping for words, before receiving some much-needed help from fellow former political strategist Ana Navarro.
'Holland!' the View host and rampant progressive exclaimed, speaking over Jennings as he attempted to ask a serious question.
'Are you against them coming here?' he asked Allison again, this time receiving a reply that appeared to ignore his inquiry.
'I'm against the hypocrisy of this administration,' Allison argued, before being prodded again for a real answer from the panel's only conservative.
'If there was actually a genocide happening like there is in other places in Sudan, in The Congo, I would not I'm not opposed for Congolese and for the Sudanese to come to Africa just like I'm not opposed to Venezuelans and South Americans coming to America if they are fleeing and looking for asylum,' she said.
'What I am against, it's not about being against them,' she continued, referring to the recent arrivals.
The same people who had no problem with letting in 20 million illegal immigrants, gang members included, are suddenly outraged about a small group of white South African refugees.
Spare me. pic.twitter.com/KR1vLIo42P
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) May 13, 2025
'What I am against is that they are being given special treatment when there is not a genocide happening in South Africa, and they just don't like the law of the land. You know what they tell people.'
Jennings, at this point, rightly pointed out, 'Well, there's been violence.'
He was referring to the litany of white farmers being killed in the country by fellow citizens frustrated with the lay of the land.
Trump said much of the same Monday, when asked by a Time reporter why he was carving out spots for Afrikaners over those from other countries.
'Farmers are being killed,' Trump said, shortly after a plane carrying what was billed as only the first group of South African refugees landed at Dulles International Airport in Virginia outside of Washington Monday.
'They happen to be white but whether they're white or black makes no difference to me. But white farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.'
Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff, told reporters on Friday the first flight from South Africa is part of a 'much larger-scale relocation effort' from the US to address injustices occurring overseas.
He said what Afrikaners face, 'fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created'.
The South African government, meanwhile, has argued Trump's claims of white South African farmers being persecuted are largely made up.
'The South Africa Police Services statistics on farm-related crimes do not support allegations of violent crime targeted at farmers generally or any particular race,' the country's Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.
'There are sufficient structures available within South Africa to address concerns of discrimination.
'Moreover, even if there are allegations of discrimination, it is our view that these do not meet the threshold of persecution required under domestic and international refugee law.'
In February, Trump issued an executive order accusing South Africa's government of seizing land from white farmers without any compensation, an allegation also denied by Cape Town.
The plane that arrived Monday carried about 50 Afrikaners, marking a new phase of the US' refugee program.
When asked what the difference between the group of refugees and the thousands the US argued it does not have the resources to house in January, Allison emphatically declared, '[because] they're white.'
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