Idaho Statesman - Expedited South African refugees to resettle in Idaho under Trump order

By Sally Krutzig
Updated May 13, 2025 4:51 PM

A plane carrying dozens of South Africans claiming to face anti-white discrimination landed in the United States on Monday. Nine will be resettled in Idaho as refugees, making them some of the only refugees to Idaho since President Donald Trump ordered pauses in January.

Nearly 50 Afrikaners — a term that refers to South Africans descended from Dutch settlers — were flown on a U.S.-funded charter plane, as part of a Trump decision, that landed at Washington Dulles International Airport on Monday morning, The Washington Post reported.

The move meant the Trump administration prioritized the South Africans ahead of about 12,000 already approved refugees, including more than 400 who had been poised to resettle in Idaho this year, according to the Idaho Office for Refugees. A January executive order brought their hopes to a screeching halt, despite some of them being so far along in the process that they already had plane tickets to Boise.

Only a handful of refugees who had an approved Special Immigrant Visa for helping the U.S. military have entered Idaho since the order, according to the Idaho Office for Refugees. The Idaho Office for Refugees, the nonprofit designated to oversee the resettlement program for Idaho, confirmed that nine of the South Africans would be resettling in Twin Falls. The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants will assist them.

/snip