Trump admin funds group studying crime against white South Africans
The gist
Trump's State Department is giving $1 million to AfriForum to study crimes against white South Africans.
The award follows cuts to human rights funding in countries in crisis.
How it unfolded
- Feb 7, 2025President Trump signed an executive order directing the government to resettle white South Africans who claimed they were victims of racial persecution from the country's Black majority.
- Jul 17, 2026ProPublica reported the State Department's human rights bureau was redirecting funds to right-wing causes and planned to finance research on crime against minority populations in South Africa; staff were initially told to begin awarding funds to Lex Libertas, founded by a prominent member of the white Afrikaner movement.
- Jul 2026ProPublica revealed the bureau originally intended to give the $1 million research award to Lex Libertas, a small organization founded last year by former AfriForum executive Ernst Roets; Trump officials later expanded potential awardees to a small pool of handpicked organizations.
Key terms
- Afrikaners
- A Southern African ethnic group descended mainly from Dutch settlers who arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.
- executive order
- A legal instrument issued by a government's executive branch under authority granted by law.
- human rights bureau
- A bureau within the U.S. State Department that handles democracy, human rights and labor affairs.
Source: Wikipedia