Secretary of State Marco Rubio was perplexed by the criticism over the United States accepting immigrants from South Africa, suggesting the U.S. is fulfilling its reputation of being a “beacon” for the world.
The U.S. welcomed almost 50 refugees from South Africa this past week, marking the first group of Afrikaners, a white minority group in South Africa, to arrive to the nation under a new program offered by President Donald Trump. When asked about the president’s claim that there is a “genocide” happening in the foreign country, Rubio stated that the residents are “having their properties taken from them.”
“Call it whatever they want, but these are people that on the basis of their race are having properties taken away from them and their lives being threatened and in some cases killed,” Rubio stated on CBS News. “These are people that applied and made these claims in these applications and seek to come to the United States in search of refuge. We’ve often been lectured by people all over the place about how the United States needs to continue to be a beacon for those who are oppressed abroad. Well, here’s an example where we’re doing that, so I don’t understand why people are criticizing it. I think people should be celebrating it, and I think people should be supporting it.”
When pressed if there is any evidence of a genocide taking place in South Africa, the secretary stated there is “absolutely” evidence that people are being killed and “forcibly removed from their properties.” Rubio argued that both the South African government and “independent groups encouraged by political parties” are responsible for forcing residents off their properties.
The secretary further assessed that people, specifically farmers, decide “lightly” to uproot themselves from their homeland and move to another continent overseas. As such, he argued there is “a reason” these refugees are coming to the U.S.
“So we welcome them to the United States and I think there may be more coming soon,” Rubio stated.
FLEEING PERSECUTION, SOUTH AFRICAN ARRIVALS SCRAMBLE REFUGEE POLITICS
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the departure of his country’s residents to the U.S., claiming they committed “a real cowardly act” and predicted they would be back soon since “there is no country like South Africa.” Ramaphosa is set to meet with Trump at the White House on Wednesday.
Today @DeputySecState welcomed the first group of Afrikaner refugees fleeing persecution from their native South Africa. We stand with these refugees, many of them farmers and former business owners, as they build a better future for themselves and their children here in the… pic.twitter.com/W16RJSU3tB
— Department of State (@StateDept) May 12, 2025
Footage of the immigrants arriving to the U.S. at Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C., particularly of the immigrants prominently displaying U.S. flags, has gone viral on X. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau welcomed the immigrants, telling them “we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years.”
