One of the white Afrikaners brought into the US as refugees by the Trump administration this week has a history of antisemitic social media posts, despite the White House using alleged antisemitism as a rationale for deporting pro-Palestinian protesters.
Charl Kleinhaus posted on X in 2023 that “Jews are untrustworthy and a dangerous group.” In another post last fall, he shared a rightwing, nationalist YouTube video that was later removed, titled: “‘We’ll shoot ILLEGAL Immigrants!’ – Poland’s Illegal Islamic immigrant solution,” with clapping emojis.
A number of Kleinhaus’s posts also promote the conspiracy theory that white people in South Africa are being particularly persecuted.
Kleinhaus confirmed to several media outlets, including the Bulwark and New York Times that he was the owner of the account that contained antisemitic and racist posts, though he insisted to the Times that he was not antisemitic and claimed to have written a post in error while on medication.
The Trump administration has engaged in a systematic campaign to arrest and attempt to deport pro-Palestinian activists in recent months, claiming that they are engaging in antisemitism. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said last month it will begin screening immigrants’ social media activity for antisemitism, using it “as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests”.
Kleinhaus, however, was recently granted refugee status by the US government, along with 58 other white South Africans, and landed this week at Washington Dulles international airport.
“We just packed our bags and left” for “safety reasons”, Kleinhaus, who according to his LinkedIn profile owns a mining company in South Africa, told the New York Times on arrival.
Afrikaners are a white ethnic minority that ruled South Africa during apartheid, implementing harsh policies of racial segregation in the country until the regime was officially abolished in 1994.
Some white supremacist Afrikaners – as well as Donald Trump and his biggest financial backer, Elon Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa – have promoted the false conspiracy theory that there is a “white genocide” taking place in the country.
In February, Trump signed an executive order saying that Afrikaners were unjustly being persecuted with little intervention from the South African government, and granted a group of them refugee status.
A senior DHS official said in a statement: “The Department of Homeland Security vets all refugee applicants. Any claims of misconduct are thoroughly investigated, and appropriate action will be taken as necessary. DHS does not comment on individual application status.”
Kleinhaus did not immediately respond to questions.
This week, the Episcopal church said it would be ending its refugee resettlement program with the US government, pointing to the Trump administration’s approach to resettle the white Afrikaners.
“It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” said the presiding bishop of the church, the Rev Sean W Rowe.
