Second group of white South Africans arrive in US to take up Trump's refugee offer

A second group of white South Africans, who took up President Donald Trump's resettlement offer, have arrived in the United States.

They arrived in the US on Friday, and are part of some 8,000 Afrikaners who are seeking resettlement in America.

Last month, approximately 50 white South Africans who were the first group of US-bound Afrikaners, relocated to America on a private aeroplane.

Jaco Kleynhans, the head of public relations for trade union Solidarity, has said that the second group of US-bound Afrikaners departed on a commercial flight on Thursday.

'Smaller group'

The plane landed in Atlanta, Georgia State on Friday. The exact number of refuge-seeking Afrikaners in the second batch was not immediately clear.

"It is a smaller group, including children. Several more groups will fly to the USA over the next few weeks. The US Embassy in Pretoria, in collaboration with the State Department in Washington DC, is currently processing 8,000 applications, and we expect many more Afrikaner refugees to travel to the USA over the next few months," Kleynhans said.

"They are settling in states across the USA, but particularly southern states such as Texas, North and South Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska," Kleynhans added.

According to Kleynhans, the US-bound Afrikaners are not seeking "refuge" per se, but are pursuing a "prosperous future for Afrikaners."

South Africa rejects Trump's claims of white 'genocide'

"Our primary focus is not refugee status for Afrikaners, but rather to find ways to ensure a free, safe, and prosperous future for Afrikaners in South Africa. We remain 100% convinced that South Africa can and must create a home for all its people," he said.

South Africa has repeatedly rejected President Trump's baseless claims of a genocide in South Africa targeting the white population.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated the government's position during his meeting with President Trump at the White House in May.