Episode details

World Service,02 Oct 2026,27 mins
How white South Africans became the face of Trump鈥檚 refugee policy
The Global StoryAvailable for over a year
In the last year, the US has admitted just 13,000 refugees 鈥� a fraction of the number it has accepted in previous years. And almost all of those new arrivals have been white South Africans. The Trump administration says Afrikaners are fleeing persecution in South Africa. But there is little evidence of attacks specifically targeting the country鈥檚 white Afrikaner minority. South Africa鈥檚 new ambassador to the US has told the 麻豆社 that the idea of a mass attack against white Afrikaners simply does not exist. So why have Afrikaners been given preferential access to the US refugee programme? And what has life in America been like for those who have made the journey? Today on The Global Story, the 麻豆社鈥檚 North America correspondent Ione Wells and Africa producer Ed Habershon share their conversations with the Afrikaners who are using new refugee policies to immigrate to the US 鈥� and the South African officials who say the Trump administration is overlooking the full picture. Producer: Cat Farnsworth, Aron Keller and Xandra Ellin Executive producer: Martine Powers Mix: Travis Evans Digital producer: Charlie Firth Senior news editor: China Collins Photo:US President Donald Trump meets with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 21 May 2025. Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Shutterstock
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