Should Trump grant refugee status to Afrikaners?

South Africa's war on Afrikaners undercuts everything that was good and hopeful about Nelson Mandela's vision for his nation. Afrikaners must be offered refugee status until Pretoria reform its ways.

Unbeknownst to most readers of the Crotty Farm Report, I once considered majoring in African Studies. It was freshman year at Northwestern. I was deeply immersed in a course on South African politics taught by Dennis Brutus, a poet, activist, and scholar active in anti-apartheid efforts. Brutus was in a cell next to Nelson Mandela’s while serving time on Robben Island for his attempts to get South Africa banned from the Olympic Games. He had credibility. His teaching was low-key but infectious.

One of the works we were required to read was Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. As part of healing from apartheid, Mandela called for forgiveness and reconciliation. That was controversial, as many South Africans wanted to take violent revenge on their Afrikaner oppressors. But it was the right thing to do, as Mandela, a lawyer himself, sought to build a South Africa rooted in the rule of law.

Fast-forward 31 years since South Africa’s first non-racial general election, the official end to apartheid, in which all races were allowed to vote. Under the guise of fighting historic inequity, the black-led South African government has waged war on white Dutch-descended Afrikaners, enabling violence against farmers, demanding race-based preferences in hiring and contracts, restrictions on the teaching of the Afrikans language in schools, and, per the dictates of the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, appropriating land without consent or compensation, eviscerating the notion of private property. This government-sponsored race-based discrimination runs counter to everything Nelson Mandela believed and spent 27 years in a South African prison fighting to uphold.

In reaction, Donald Trump has allowed all willing Afrikaners to go to the front of the line and resettle in America, per the dictates of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which operates under HHS, plans to resettle at least 1000 Afrikaners who meet all the criteria we should seek in emigrants: First, they are persons facing imminent harm. Second, they are able, hardworking, and self-sufficient. Third, they are not a drain on the U.S. but will be a net contributor to the commonweal.

The U.S. has already expelled South African ambassador Ebrahim Rassool and cut off all foreign aid to the corrupt government in Pretoria. This is the next step.

Mainstream media have railed against Trump’s decision, failing to grasp how unjust the South African Expropriation Act of 2024 is because they side with racist DEI practices stateside, which allow blacks to gain top-tier employment, entrance to elite universities, and board seats simply because of the color of their skin. As the Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina, such affirmative action violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

Race-based expropriation in South Africa would also violate this clause. It is also a direct violation of the South African constitution, which in section 9 guarantees equal treatment before the law. The rub is that the South African constitution also allows affirmative action to redress previous discrimination. Section 9(2) explicitly permits legislative and other measures designed to advance persons previously disadvantaged by race discrimination. This is a slippery slope to disadvantage the Afrikaner population of South Africa. In this way, it runs counter to U.S. jurisprudence.

On the surface, with its history of colonialism and apartheid, and with the extreme minority of Afrikaners owning 70% of South African land, one would think South Africa would be justified in taking white farmers' land. But that belief runs counter to everything Mandela and others held dear. You don’t get to racial equality through reverse discrimination. You get there by following the law and recognizing the rights of all South Africans to equal treatment under it.

Afrikaners must be allowed free and immediate entry into this country until South Africa eliminates racist affirmative action from their constitution and ceases all efforts at racially discriminatory property confiscation.