In February 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order offering prioritised refugee status to Afrikaner farmers hoping to escape what he described as a “genocide” in South Africa.
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With America’s 2026 refugee intake capped at just 7,500 people, President Trump’s move to prioritise resettlement of white South African farmers reignited global controversy when he referenced widely disputed claims of forced appropriation of land and a “genocide” against white farmers – claims amplified online by South Africa’s richest man, Elon Musk.
#BBCAfricaEye reporter Claire Mawisa travels to South Africa’s Free State to uncover the truth behind these claims. She meets farmers fearing for their lives after brutal attacks, and others who insist the “white genocide” narrative distorts a far more complex story of crime, inequality, and fear that spreads across races and classes.
As tensions rise between Washington and Pretoria, this film investigates how fear, crime and online narratives have collided to create one of the most politically charged asylum routes in the world – and what it means for those determined to go, and those who remain.
00:00 White Asylum: America’s South African Refugees
02:30 Trump on white farmer persecution – reality or myth?
04:56 White families begin applying for refugee status
09:32 Boer Lives Matter: Brendin Horner
10:29 Farms and fears: A legacy
17:39 Night patrol on a farm
20:09 ‘What happened in Rwanda is genocide’
22:35 Are white farmers more at risk?
26:10 Policing the farms: ‘If we don’t do it, we’ll have nothing left.’
37:00 The United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP)
37:55 Post-apartheid South Africa
39:35 Orania: A peaceful Afrikaner way of life?
44:22 Divisions created by apartheid
46:38 Generational differences
49:39 A South African story of persecution?
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