Trump administration grants priority-2 refugee status to white Afrikaners

A newly proposed US bill has stirred international debate after Congressman Troy Nehls introduced the “Afrikaner Act,” which aims to grant Priority-2 refugee status to white Afrikaners from South Africa — citing racial discrimination as grounds for asylum.

The bill, officially titled the Asylum for Farmers and Refugees in Crisis and Necessary Emigration Resettlement Act, focuses on white Afrikaner ethnic minority groups, who Nehls says have suffered “persecution” based on their race, ethnicity, or ancestry.

This legislative move builds on a previous initiative by former U.S. President Donald Trump, whose Executive Order prioritised the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees. Nehls echoed those sentiments in his defense of the bill.

Nehls defends Afrikaners as victims of racial discrimination

“The Afrikaner population in South Africa has been experiencing unjust racial discrimination, and the situation continues to get worse by the day,” said Nehls.

“President Trump is right. How Afrikaners are being treated is a massive human rights violation. My bill will offer Afrikaners a pathway to the United States to flee the persecution they’ve lived through initiated by their own government.”

Despite the bill’s aims, Afrikaners who apply for refugee status will still need to undergo standard U.S. immigration procedures, including background checks, security screenings, and medical tests. The U.S. government has formally accepted their eligibility under Priority-2 status, but entry is not automatic.