Musk’s Influence On Trump Now There Is A Refugee Offer For White South Africans

Photo: Mom Maye Musk is a South African and American citizen.. Source:  Photo: Maye Musk

WASHINGTON, DC – Amid ongoing deportations and heated immigration debates, Elon Musk’s growing influence in Donald Trump’s inner circle is increasingly shaping U.S. policy. The president is now echoing Musk’s long-standing grievances against the South African government. On February 7, Trump signed an executive order cutting U.S. aid to South Africa and offering refugee status to white Afrikaners, citing racial discrimination under the country’s new land reform law.

Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa, has frequently accused its government of enacting “racist ownership laws” and failing to prevent what he has described as a “genocide” against white farmers. Last week, he directly challenged South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on X, asking, “Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?”

Trump’s order follows the passage of South Africa’s expropriation act, a law aimed at redistributing land to address historical inequalities rooted in the apartheid era, during which white minority rule left white farmers owning roughly three-quarters of the country’s land. That the US would react swiftly to a domestic policy has raised eyebrows.

Today, white South Africans make up about 7% of the population.

The executive order paves the way for Afrikaners—descendants of Dutch and French settlers who dominate the country’s agricultural sector—to seek resettlement in the U.S. as victims of racial discrimination.

However, South Africa’s right-wing white lobby groups have signaled that they prefer to remain and “tackle the injustices” of Black majority rule rather than emigrate.

Musk’s criticism of South Africa runs deep. In 2023, he accused Ramaphosa’s government of remaining silent while figures “openly push for genocide of white people in South Africa.” He has also condemned the country’s affirmative action policies, which he blames for blocking his satellite company, Starlink, from obtaining a license due to its failure to meet Black economic empowerment criteria.

Trump’s move to align U.S. policy with Musk’s rhetoric marks a significant escalation in diplomatic tensions between Washington and Pretoria. Whether his refugee offer will spark mass migration remains uncertain, but it has already reignited a fierce debate over race, land ownership, and historical justice.