The U.S. Embassy in South Africa said it has received a list of more than 67,000 people interested in refugee status in the U.S. under President Donald Trump's plan to resettle members of the white minority, whom he claims are victims of racial discrimination by the black-led government, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
The list was provided to the embassy by the South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S., which said it has become a point of contact for white South Africans asking about the program announced by the Trump administration last month. The House said the list did not constitute official statements.
On February 7, Trump issued an executive order cutting off U.S. funding for South Africa, citing "government actions that fuel disproportionate violence against racially disadvantaged landowners."
The executive order specifically targets Afrikaners, a white minority group descended primarily from Dutch and French colonial settlers who first arrived in South Africa in the 17th century. The order directs Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem to prioritize humanitarian assistance for Afrikaners who are victims of "unjust racial discrimination" and to resettle them in the United States under the refugee program.
In South Africa, which has a population of 62 million, people, about 2.7 million Afrikaners live.
Trump's decision to offer some white South Africans refugee status runs counter to his broader policy of halting the US refugee resettlement program, the AP said.
The South African government said Trump's claims that it is acting against Afrikaners through a land expropriation law are inaccurate and largely driven by misinformation. Trump has posted on his social media platform "Truth Social" that Afrikaners are being deprived of farmland, even though no land has been taken under the new law.
The order also criticizes South Africa's foreign policy, in particular its decision to accuse Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a case at the UN's top court. The Trump administration has accused South Africa of supporting the Palestinian militant group "Hamas" and Iran and takes an anti-American stance. The United States also expelled the South African ambassador, accusing him of anti-American and anti-Trump stances.
A U.S. embassy official in the South African capital Pretoria confirmed receipt of the list of names from the South African Chamber of Commerce in the United States, but did not provide further details.
Neil Diamond, president of the South African Chamber of Commerce in the United States, said the list contained 67,042 names. Most of them were people between the ages of 25 and 45 and had children.