‘Really struggling’: Trump’s Afrikaner ‘refugees’ said to be abandoned, miserable, missing South Africa

a few news cycles ago, when Donald Trump and Elon Musk were best buddies and suddenly the president was very concerned about “white genocide” in South Africa? I know, it seems like a million years ago, right? Anyhows, Trump has not only forgotten that any of that happened, but the publicity stunt Afrikaner “refugees” he invited to his country have apparently been all but abandoned.

In a report in The South African, it’s detailed that an Afrikaner family arrived from South Africa fully believing Trump’s promises of a home, a job and medical insurance. You may need to be sitting down for this shocking news, but it turns out those promises weren’t entirely true.

Rather than their white picket fence middle-class American dream, the article says they’re instead stranded in a Montana hotel with no food, no money, and no cellphone. Also, “because of the political situation, they are really struggling to get jobs” and have apparently resorted to begging on Facebook.

It looks like Donald Trump may already be neglecting Afrikaner Refugees on the Great Tsek! These folks left South Africa to be charity cases and burdens on South Africans in America.

Apparently a family of 4 is stuck in a Hotel with no Food or Cell phones. pic.twitter.com/rkZYRp68Xv

— Incontrovertible Truth (@incontroZA) June 11, 2025

The report also gives the disparaging opinion of a South African immigrant who actually had to work hard to establish a new life in the United States. Little sympathy is on display: “One side of me is like, “F**k that”. My husband and I went through all of the red tape, and we got our visas…we’ve got our green card. We’ve been here ten years. We did everything the right way. Here, these people, regardless of what they were promised, just came here expecting everything”.

Can they go back?

Faced with the reality of what life is actually like in the middle of nowhere, Montana it’s perhaps understandable they’re getting homesick. But returning is going to be awkward, as it’s a little embarrassing to dramatically leave a country on the basis that you’re being persecuted and then return a few weeks later pretending like nothing’s happened. Or, as it’s commonly dubbed, “The Costanza maneuver“.

South Africa’s Department of International Relations (DIRCO) was disparaging, saying: “You can’t be seeking refugee status, then go back home, have a braai, then go back.  It defeats the purpose of you being protected and a refugee of a particular country.” Fortunately, they can indeed return, though would have to it that they are, in fact, not being persecuted at all. 

If there’s a moral here, it’s maybe don’t uproot your entire life based on promises from Donald Trump. The man has the memory of a goldfish, so even if he was minded to keep his word (debatable), his response to being asked about the Afrikaners he invited over would probably be “I did what now?”