Trump's white refugee obsession runs into an awkward problem

President Donald Trump’s effort to rescue white South Africans from an imaginary genocide has a problem: they don't seem particularly eager to flee it, even with a straight ticket to America up for grabs.

In what appears to be a desperate attempt, State Department officials are considering spending about $335,000 to advertise the program and find out why they aren't interested, according to an internal proposal obtained by The Guardian.

The report reveals that applications from Afrikaners have “trended lower than expected” since the administration made it easy with an online registration launched in November 2025. Officials acknowledge they have no idea what is keeping them away from flying over.

“There’s currently little research about why Afrikaners are not applying to request referral into the US Refugee Admissions Program,” the proposal reads.

The research and advertising campaign is set to come in three stages. The first phase is to organize focus groups in several South African communities, including Pretoria, Stellenbosch and Orania, which garnered headlines as the nation’s ‘White Only’ community.

A survey of 1,000 Afrikaners would follow, testing what messages could persuade them to migrate. The final phase would be a six-month online campaign, primarily in Afrikaans, aimed at convincing people to immigrate.

The campaign plan is still just a proposal and has not been approved.

With an executive order in February 2025, Trump put the resettlement of Afrikaners at the top of his agenda. He did so on the grounds that white South Africans are being subjected to unfair property seizures and race discrimination.

The administration has been vocal in its promotion of “white genocide” talk as well, even though such claims have been roundly discredited by experts and denied outright by the government in South Africa.

South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola used Trump’s favorite term when describing the genocide allegations.

“The story of white genocide does not exist, it’s fake news,” Lamola said during a discussion in New York, adding that there is no evidence to back the White House claims.

Trump drastically cut Biden’s refugee admission cap from 125,000 to 7,500. He eventually increased it to 17,000 with Afrikaners in mind.

According to figures cited by The Guardian, the United States admitted 16,292 refugees in the fiscal year ending September 30, with nearly all being South African. That total, however, has not eased officials’ disappointment with how many are seeking to enter the program.

A State Department spokesperson defended the administration’s approach in a statement:
“We continue to process and admit as refugees Afrikaners in South Africa who are escaping the threat of government-sponsored race-based discrimination”.

“President Trump has been very clear that we are prioritizing the resettlement of Afrikaners in South Africa who are escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination.”

Trump has had a difficult relationship with South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa. Last year, when visiting the White House, Trump presented Ramaphosa with "evidence" of the mass killing of white South Africans, with pictures of burial sites, which were, in fact, showing humanitarian workers lifting body bags in Goma, Congo.