A Look Inside the Welcome Bags Planned for White South African Refugees [View all]
Free NYT link https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/us/politics/south-africa-refugees-welcome-bags.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tVA.hrGs.SGCA7ASU0uA2&smid=nytcore-ios-share]
In the coming weeks, the United States plans to provide a welcome gift to white South Africans entering the United States as refugees.
They will get an Android tablet, an American flag and copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. They will also receive a packet of literature that provides a sanitized, Trump-approved view of American and South African history, one that criticizes racial equity and civil rights laws and promotes claims of discrimination against white people.
The welcome bags include a report commissioned by Mr. Trump during his first term that downplays the role of slavery in the countrys founding, and a childrens book accusing South Africas government of favoring the Black population.
The proposal for the bags is still being finalized. Mr. Trumps aides have planned to give them to a group of South African Afrikaners who enter the United States in the coming weeks, according to government documents obtained by The New York Times and an official familiar with the matter.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to detail plans that have not been announced. It is not clear how much the bags cost, or how much of the cost was being paid by taxpayers. It is unusual for the government to provide welcome gifts of this kind to refugees.