State Department officials are considering a roughly $335,000 research and advertising campaign in South Africa to investigate why white Afrikaners are not applying for US refugee status in the numbers the administration anticipated, according to an August proposal reviewed by The Guardian.
Targeted Outreach After Slow Application Trends
The proposed advertising blitz follows an executive order issued in February 2025 that directed immigration officials to prioritize Afrikaner resettlement while suspending the broader refugee admissions pipeline. When authorities opened direct online applications in November 2025, submission volumes trended lower than expected. The State Department document, prepared jointly by the US mission in South Africa and a department research unit for the embassy in Pretoria, acknowledges a fundamental information gap regarding local reluctance.
Hundreds of Afrikaner families who applied to relocate to the United States through a refugee programme have reportedly been informed that their applications were unsuccessful, leaving many facing an uncertain future.According to reports, some applicants had already sold their… pic.twitter.com/15Ako0kbbA
“There’s currently little research about why Afrikaners are not applying to request referral into the US Refugee Admissions Program,” the proposal states. Administration officials previously justified the policy by asserting that Afrikaners face systemic racial discrimination and targeted violence. The South African government has firmly rejected these genocide claims, and independent experts have widely dismissed the notion of targeted violence against the community.
Refugee admissions caps have shifted dramatically under the current administration. After initially restricting admissions to 7,500—the lowest level in US history—the cap was raised to 17,500 in May, with the newly added slots earmarked primarily for Afrikaners. By comparison, the overall refugee cap stood at 125,000 under the Biden administration. Recent federal data shows the US admitted 16,292 refugees during the fiscal year that concluded on September 30, a total that included just five Afghan nationals alongside a small contingent of South Africans.
Phased Focus Groups and Digital Ad Placements
The multi-phase State Department plan outlines extensive demographic testing across specific South African municipalities. Focus groups are scheduled for Pretoria and Krugersdorp in Gauteng, Bloemfontein and Kroonstad in the Free State, Stellenbosch and Worcester in the Western Cape, and Kimberley and Orania in the Northern Cape, a self-described Afrikaner-only separatist enclave. Sessions will divide participants into cohorts aged 20 to 35 and 40 to 55, segmented by urban or rural residency and household income levels.
Following the focus groups, researchers plan to survey 1,000 Afrikaners both online and offline to determine which messaging strategies resonate most effectively within specific communities. The final phase entails a six-month digital marketing campaign conducted primarily in Afrikaans, designed to reach individuals identified as interested in emigrating. Because the demographic remains difficult to engage through conventional press outlets, planners intend to contract a specialized local agency utilizing trusted community messengers.
A State Department spokesperson defended the initiative, stating that authorities “continue to process and admit as refugees Afrikaners in South Africa who are escaping the threat of government-sponsored race-based discrimination.”
Diplomatic Ruptures and Grant Allocations
The refugee push operates alongside a broader diplomatic rupture between Washington and Pretoria. Last November, the administration excluded South Africa from the 2026 G20 summit hosted in Miami, citing alleged abuses against white farmers. Washington has also trimmed bilateral aid and tightened visa restrictions over South African land and race policies.
Tensions deepened further following South Africa’s legal challenges at the International Court of Justice, where Pretoria accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. The diplomatic friction was exacerbated when the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African jurist who chaired the United Nations commission that investigated the Gaza conflict.
Financial backing for parallel ideological initiatives has also moved swiftly. Just before congressional funds expired, the administration redirected more than $175m from the State Department’s Human Rights and Democracy Fund to 43 distinct grants totaling $176.9m. These allocations include a $1m grant dedicated to advancing white Afrikaner rights and cataloging minority grievances, a portfolio shaped by high-level administration figures advocating for specific cultural and immigration priorities.
