The Trump administration and South African officials reached a private understanding in late December to allow a controversial U.S. refugee programme for white South Africans to continue, according to an internal meeting summary reviewed by Reuters.
The agreement followed a December raid on U.S. refugee personnel in Johannesburg, clearing the way for the federally administered refugee admissions program to continue operating under South African law and international immigration regulations.
The initiative, launched under President Donald Trump, targets white South Africans of Afrikaner descent, whom his administration claims are facing race-based persecution under constitutional and human-rights law in a majority-Black South Africa.
South Africa’s government has rejected those allegations as legally unfounded. During a May 2025 bilateral meeting, Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with claims of “white genocide,” raising diplomatic and international law concerns.
Relations between Washington and Pretoria were further strained after the United States excluded South Africa from the G20 meetings it is scheduled to host later in 2026, a move that carried significant foreign-policy and constitutional implications.
Tensions escalated in mid-December when South African authorities conducted a law-enforcement raid on a U.S. refugee processing site in Johannesburg operating under cross-border immigration agreements.
The operation resulted in the arrest of seven Kenyan contractors working for a U.S.-based refugee organization over allegations they violated visa and residency compliance laws, along with the temporary detention of two U.S. refugee officers.
The U.S. State Department said that despite the “unacceptable events” in December, its federally authorized operations under immigration and asylum law remained uninterrupted.
More Afrikaners entered the United States as refugees in December than in any previous month, with even higher numbers expected in January under existing humanitarian and refugee resettlement statutes.
The December 23 meeting in Pretoria involved U.S. chargé d’affaires Marc Dillard and senior South African diplomats, including Deputy Minister Alvin Botes and Acting Chief Director for North America Thabo Thage.
The U.S. government’s summary indicated the discussions focused on de-escalating diplomatic tensions and improving regulatory and legal coordination. “Botes and Thage appear to have entered the meeting with the aim of de-escalating the recent rise in tensions and improving communications with U.S. counterparts to avoid ‘drama’ and the unnecessary airing of public grievances in the future,” the summary read.
South Africa’s foreign ministry emphasized that the arrests of U.S. contractors were “a law enforcement matter, not a diplomatic signal” and that the refugee admissions program could proceed as long as it complied with South African law, international treaties, and immigration compliance rules. “To construe adherence to the rule of law as a ‘secret endorsement’ of a specific foreign policy program is a deliberate misinterpretation,” the ministry said.
Officials repeatedly assured Dillard that Pretoria would not block or interfere with the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program under international humanitarian law.
Botes and Thage also recommended that the United States expand its American government staffing and contract local South African workers instead of Kenyan nationals to reduce future legal and visa-compliance issues.
“Our position on the so-called ‘refugee protection’ for South African citizens is unchanged: it is based on a false premise that lacks empirical evidence and has been rejected by South Africans of all backgrounds,” the ministry said in a statement.
The summary, emailed to U.S. State Department refugee program staff and labeled “sensitive,” suggests both governments are quietly pursuing a more cooperative diplomatic and legal framework following months of strained bilateral relations since Trump returned to office.
During the roughly two-hour meeting late on December 23, South African officials appeared to prioritize constitutional order, legal process, and diplomatic coordination rather than public confrontation.
