By Molly Claire Goddard
1:10am PDT, May 14, 2025
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Donald Trump made a bold statement about the visitors he welcomed to Washington, D.C.
During a meeting with the press on Monday, May 12, the president of the United States claimed the white South Africans he is hosting were fleeing from genocide in their country based on their race. Meanwhile, he's stopped
immigration for many other nations.
Keep reading to learn why Trump sped up the process to grant these specific people refugee status…
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Following his speech on the price of drugs, Donald Trump explained why he expedited the process for white South Africans.
"Because they're being killed and we don't want to see people be killed," the Republican leader claimed. "Now, South Africa leadership is coming to see me — I understand sometime next week — and we're supposed to have a G20 meeting there or something; but we're having a G20 meeting. I don't know how we can go unless that situation's taken care of. But it's a genocide that's taking place that you people don't want to write about, but it's a terrible thing that's taking place."
Trump then claimed the white South Africans' race is not a factor in his decision to give people asylum and claimed the press isn't covering what's allegedly happening: "Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white. But whether they're white or Black, makes no difference to me; but white farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa and the newspapers and the media, television media doesn't even talk about it. If it were the other way around, they talk about it. That would be the only story they talk about. I don't care who they are. I don't care about their race, their color, I don't care about their height, their weight. I don't care about anything. I just know that what's happening is terrible. I have people that live in South Africa. They say it's a terrible situation taking place, so we've essentially extended citizenship to those people and to escape from that violence and come here," he said.
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On Monday, May 12, Donald Trump and his administration welcomed 59 white South Africans as refugees. The group included adults and small children seeking safety.
"I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years," Deputy Secretary of State
Christopher Landau told the travelers upon their arrival. "It is such an honor for us to receive you here today. It makes me so happy to see you with our flag in your hands."
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South Africa's president
Cyril Ramaphosa responded to Donald Trump's statements and claimed he called the former star of
The Apprentice to tell him he allegedly had false information about any discrimination going on in his country.
"We think that the American government has got the wrong end of the stick here, but we'll continue talking to them," Ramaphosa
said during a conference in Ivory Coast.
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Democrats have expressed their concern over Donald Trump's sweeping declaration. Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen spoke out against the action during a Monday, May 12, thinktank event.
"To watch the Trump administration apply what I call their global apartheid policy, is just an outrageous insult to the whole idea of our country," he said.
Executive director of Homes Not Borders non-profit organization Laura Thompson Osuri condemned the action: "It's for showing: 'Look at us. We do welcome people as long as they look like us,'" she said in a statement.
