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US State Department proposes $335,000 campaign to recruit South African Afrikaners as refugees

Confirmed1 source · Oct 15, 2026

The Trump administration is considering a research and advertising push to boost Afrikaner emigration to the US after direct online applications trailed expectations.

US State Department proposes $335,000 campaign to recruit South African Afrikaners as refugees
Image via The Guardian

What happened

According to an August proposal reviewed by The Guardian, US State Department officials outlined a roughly $335,000 media and research effort targeting South African Afrikaners after refugee applications "trended lower than expected" since online application access began in November 2025. The three-phase plan includes focus groups in eight South African cities, a survey of 1,000 Afrikaners testing messaging effectiveness, and a six-month digital campaign in Afrikaans and English targeting those "interested in migrating." The proposal acknowledges that officials "know little" about why Afrikaners are not applying in anticipated numbers. A State Department spokesperson defended the initiative as processing Afrikaners "escaping the threat of government-sponsored race-based discrimination," citing Trump's February 2025 executive order prioritizing Afrikaner resettlement.

Context

This initiative reflects a broader shift in US refugee policy under Trump. The 2025 executive order redirected the refugee program to prioritize Afrikaners while suspending broader admissions, then capped total refugee admissions at 17,500 (from a Biden-era cap of 125,000). In the most recent fiscal year, 16,292 refugees were admitted to the US. The administration has justified this focus by claiming Afrikaners face "white genocide" and racial discrimination—claims rejected by the South African government and widely dismissed by experts as unfounded. Beyond refugee policy, the Trump administration has also excluded South Africa from the 2026 G20 summit, cut development aid, restricted visas, and directed more than $175 million from the State Department's Human Rights and Democracy Fund to 43 grants, with at least $1 million earmarked for "advancing white Afrikaner rights" and collecting data on abuses against minorities, reflecting priorities attributed to JD Vance and Stephen Miller.

What's disputed

The central factual dispute concerns whether Afrikaners face genocide or targeted racial discrimination. The Trump administration claims they do; the South African government rejects genocide claims as "unfounded and politically motivated," and the South African foreign minister stated there is "no evidence" for them. Experts have widely dismissed genocide claims. The low uptake of Afrikaner refugee applications is itself an unresolved question—the proposal admits officials lack research on why applications are below expectations, suggesting the underlying demand for resettlement may be limited.