President Donald Trump’s controversial new $100 million initiative is landing at the same time as his administration’s newly unveiled $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, two massive spending efforts that have triggered outrage online and intensified questions about who exactly this White House believes deserves urgent government protection and taxpayer support.
Nowhere has that debate exploded more than around Trump’s continued claims about so-called “white genocide” in South Africa, where he insists white farmers are being brutally targeted despite repeated disputes over the narrative and a lack of evidence supporting many of the claims pushed by his allies.
Trump is now moving to allow thousands more South African Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority descended largely from Dutch, French, and German settlers, into the United States even as overall refugee admissions remain at historic lows.
Trump has proposed allowing an additional 10,000 South African Afrikaners, an ethnic group that descended from 17th century Dutch, French and German settlers, into the country this year after slashing the overall number of refugees allowed in for 2026 from a 2024 cap of 125,000 under former President Joe Biden to just 7,500.
And despite desperately vulnerable populations in countries around the world, the small number of refugees allowed in so far are predominantly white Afrikaners and other South African minorities.
The New York Times, citing documents submitted to Congress Monday, May 18, reported that Trump claims without any proof that there’s an “emergency refugee situation” now underway in South Africa among the white minority and that he wants to allow another 10,000 in at an estimated cost of $100 million.
Trump has pushed a false narrative since retaking office for a second term and even before, that “a genocide” is underway in South Africa and that “White farmers are being brutally killed and their land confiscated,” something the government has vigorously denied, according to CNN. And something no legitimate news outlet or investigation has been able to confirm.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called Trump’s allegations of persecution against Afrikaners “white supremacy and white victimhood,” the Times reported.
In fact, although crime, including the murder rate, in South Africa is high it disproportionately impacts poor Black residents more than white, according to news outlets.
Hostilities between the Trump administration and South African government have amped up over the past year after, among other moves, the president increased tariffs against the country and slashed U.S. aid.
But Trump’s resettlement program is not running as smoothly as he may have hoped. Several news outlets are reporting some of the 6,500 South Afrikaners who have relocated to the U.S. over the past year have decided to go home, despite the so-called genocide and racial persecutions underway in their home country.
Reuters is reporting that at least four Afrikaners relocated under Trump’s program have returned home and that thousands who moved away to other countries over the past several years have also been returning, something they wouldn’t even consider if a “white genocide” was really underway.
Social media erupted in anger at the taxpayer money Trump is spending on a racist refugee program after political commentator and author Keith Boykin dropped a post on Threads also mentioning the $1.8 billion slush fund the Department of Justice just set up for Trump’s political allies.
“Trump announced on Monday that he plans to bring in 10,000 more white people from South Africa into the United States at a cost of $100 million,” Boykin wrote before adding that, “The move came on the same day he announced $1.8 billion in reparations to white people.”
“Why are we importing white people from South Africa?” a Threads user wondered.
Another answered, “Because they’re Racists Pro Max.”
This one fumed in all caps, “WE NEED TO PUT A STOP TO THE GRIFT AND THE SPENDING OF OUR TAX DOLLARS! ITS TIME TO IMPEACH.”
Another post summed up what a lot of people are thinking.
“Are there 10K South Africans that even want to come to the US? I highly doubt it. There are other white people from other nations that have the free will to come to the US and Don’t. Who wants to live in a sh-thole country? No healthcare, high taxes, low wages, no gun control, high living costs, low educational rate. I think Not.”
