Nor are all attackers black people. In August 2022, a Ficksburg farmer, Morgan Barratt, was assaulted by Rudi Gericke and Kleinjan le Grange. In January 2023, Evan Sorour<\/a>, 28, also a farmer in the Ficksburg area, was shot dead and his father, Reuter, assaulted by Gericke, who was sentenced to 13 years for murder.<\/p>\n Farm murders are in international headlines after 59 Afrikaners landed in the US under President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> programme to give refugee status to those \u201cwho are victims of unjust racial discrimination\u201d.<\/p>\n An executive order signed by Trump said the US will promote the resettlement of Afrikaner \u201crefugees\u201d escaping \u201cgovernment-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation\u201d. It has since been expanded to include all minorities<\/a>, including coloured and Indian South Africans.<\/p>\n But critics in South Africa and elsewhere have pointed out that farm violence also affects black people, and that violent crime is a national issue that has millions of people living in fear, regardless of race.<\/p>\n They have also questioned the vetting process the US embassy used to verify the claims made by those applying for refuge. <\/p>\n The Mail & Guardian asked the US embassy in Pretoria what criteria were used in considering applications from South Africans, particularly Afrikaners, for refugee or asylum status, and whether there specific programmes or mechanisms in place for evaluating claims.<\/p>\n The embassy referred questions to the state department. A spokesperson responded: \u201cTo be considered for the US Refugee Admissions<\/a> Programme in South Africa, individuals must meet all of the following criteria: must be of South African nationality; must be of Afrikaner ethnicity or be a member of a racial minority in South Africa; must be able to articulate a past experience of persecution or fear of future persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the state department\u2019s bureau of population, refugees and migration, refugees from African countries must meet the legal definition under the US Immigration and Nationality Act: \u201cA person who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group and political opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau welcomed the first group of Afrikaners to the US on 12\u2009\u2009May, including Jan and Marietjie, who shared their experiences in an interview on retired US colonel Chris Wyatt\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>. Wyatt, who has lived in Africa, has been outspoken about US-South Africa relations.<\/p>\n In the interview, the couple said they had left family to run their farm in South Africa and relocating to the US had brought them relief.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving gone through a farm attack ourselves, where three of my family members in the house were shot, the relief that we\u2019ve experienced on this side is tremendous. We literally didn\u2019t sleep at night for every single sound,\u201d Jan said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that house, they fired 67 shots that night, so if [Marietjie, after the incident] turned on her side, she could literally touch the bullet hole in the wall. <\/p>\n \u201cThe middle of the door, when we pushed the door closed, they were thinking that my dad was standing in front of the door, so they shot through the middle of the door at him. <\/p>\n \u201cWe got asked by a lot of people, why are we still there? It\u2019s because that\u2019s our heritage. But if it wasn\u2019t for my children, I think we would have endured everything and remained. <\/p>\n \u201cBut as a parent, I need to ensure their safety, and they are definitely not safe in South Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The family was temporarily staying in a four-bedroomed Airbnb house and had viewed one the US government had found for them.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I get the opportunity, I would like to do farming again. I told them I\u2019m willing to sweep the streets if that is needed, just to settle in and get going. But we grew up on the farm. That\u2019s our backbone \u2014 farming.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe planted everything by hand and harvested everything by hand. Our latest venture was 90\u2009000 cabbages. Myself, my wife and two workers planted every plant by hand. We harvested by hand,\u201d Jan added.<\/p>\n Wyatt, who is in touch with some of the relocated Afrikaners, including farmers and with children, told the M&G many are furious about how they have been portrayed in the media, being called \u201ccowards\u201d by President Cyril Ramaphosa and described as \u201ccar guards\u201d by Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, who also publicly demanded the names and farm addresses of the refugees.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did this to ensure our kids have a future \u2014 and a bright future,\u201d Smit told Wyatt on the channel. \u201cHe can call us cowards. It doesn\u2019t have any negative bearing on any of us. We know the truth. We know what we\u2019ve experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n Marietjie said she was sure others would follow them to the US when they saw that \u201cwe are happy and safe and how relaxed we are\u201d. <\/p>\n Wyatt said the mood among the refugees he spoke to was one of \u201ca great sense of relief and safety\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not looking over the shoulder. They\u2019re not up at night guarding, taking shifts sleeping. Some of these families, that\u2019s what they had to do,\u201d he told the M&G.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of them are very apoplectic about what\u2019s going on. They expected to be attacked being the first to come over, but the violations of the Popi [Protection of Personal Information] Act, the effort to destroy their lives and harm them, has really shocked some of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Wyatt said many of the refugees had hidden their identities from the media but there had been attempts to \u201cdox\u201d those who were photographed on arrival in the US. <\/p>\n One news site, he said, visited the house of a woman in Gqeberha and exposed her name.<\/p>\n Wyatt said he \u201calways stopped short of saying there\u2019s a genocide in South Africa\u201d, as Trump has claimed, \u201cbecause it\u2019s a politically charged term\u201d with a \u201cvery specific legal definition\u201d.<\/p>\n However, he argued that he believed the country has reached stage eight \u2014 persecution \u2014 of the 10 stages<\/a> identified by Genocide Watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n He said Trump\u2019s executive order was a response to racial discrimination in education and business, an apparent reference to the government\u2019s black economic empowerment<\/a> programme. <\/p>\n Critics, including the Democratic Alliance, have slammed the policy as racially divisive but the ANC, which introduced the programme after coming to power, says it is meant to redress the economic and social imbalances created by apartheid.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of them may have had teenage kids who graduated matric with a 90% or 98% and were denied a bursary because of their skin colour. That\u2019s a justification for coming here. Some of them may have been forced to sell equity in a company, or they didn\u2019t get promoted because of their skin. But instead of admitting what\u2019s going on, [critics] want to focus on \u2018everyone\u2019s a victim of crime\u2019,\u201d Wyatt said.<\/p>\n He added farm violence and incidents involving black farmworker victims was also underreported.<\/p>\n![\"Graphic](\"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Graphic-USrefugees-Website-1000px.png\")