South Africa: Ambassador Meyer Wants Trump Afrikaner Refugee Plan Stopped

What the report says

AllAfrica, republishing Scrolla, reported on 21 July 2026 that South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Roelf Meyer, wants President Donald Trump’s Afrikaner refugee programme halted. Meyer, described in the report as South Africa’s new envoy in Washington, said he is working to have Trump’s order cancelled, while acknowledging that this would be difficult because the White House continues to back it.

According to the report, Trump signed the order in February 2025. It allows Afrikaners who say they face mistreatment in South Africa to seek refugee status in the United States. Trump has claimed that South Africa is taking land and treating some people unfairly. The South African government rejects those claims, saying they are untrue.

Scrolla reported that the first group of 59 Afrikaners arrived in the United States in May 2025 and that many more applications have followed. The article also noted criticism of the policy from those who argue that white South Africans remain among the country’s wealthiest and most protected communities, and that crime affects South Africans across racial groups.

The dispute matters because it places a sensitive South African domestic issue inside U.S. immigration and foreign policy. The Trump administration says the programme will continue, with the White House maintaining that Afrikaners are being attacked and pushed off their land. Meyer said changing Trump’s position would be hard, but indicated he would keep trying.