According to Newsweek, more than 12,000 people are petitioning President Trump to allow white South Africans to migrate to U.S., due to the country's parliament favoring a motion that would amend the constitution to allow white farm owners' land to be stripped from them without compensation.
The petition asks Trump to "take the steps necessary to initiate an emergency immigration plan allowing white Boers to come to the United States."
"Boers" refers to white South Africans of Dutch, German or Huguenot descent; they are also known as "Afrikaners." The petition requests that Trump allow white South Africans into the U.S. over refugees from Somalia and the Middle East, who petition signers believe "cannot be properly vetted."
The petition's creators are worried that the pending constitution amendment will "dispossess whites of their history, culture, farms, property and jobs, will inevitably lead to a complete genocide of South Africa's white population" if the U.S. does not "intercede."
The South Africans are placing their hopes on a comment the president was said to have made, when questioning why the U.S. couldn't have more white immigrants opposed to immigrants of color from what he allegedly called "sh*thole countries."
South Africa's parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the amendment, 241-83, reported The Independent. The motion must now head to South Africa's Constitutional Review Committee for approval. Should the committee approve the proposal, a constitutional amendment would be drafted and voted on.
The vote was not put forward by Nelson Mandela's ruling ANC, but by the more radical party the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
The EFF's leader, Julius Malema, has long been in favor of seizing the land owned by white farmers. When speaking about land redistribution, he promised that all he wanted was the farmer's land, saying he is "not calling for the slaughter of white people – at least for now."
Ahead of the historic vote, Malema said, “We must ensure that we restore the dignity of our people without compensating the criminals who stole our land.”
South Africa's new president Cyril Ramaphosa didn't go that far, but gave his support to the measure. He had promised he would speed up the process of farmland redistribution during his inauguration a couple of weeks ago.
"We are going to address this and make sure that we come up with resolutions that resolve this once and for all," Ramaphosa said. "This original sin that was committed when our country was colonized must be resolved in a way that will take South Africa forward."
The president also promised that any redistribution would be done carefully, in order to avoid the sort of social, political and economic strife that arose after Zimbabwe seized the land owned by its white citizens.
"I will shortly initiate a dialogue with key stakeholders," Ramaphosa said. "There is no need for any one of us to panic and start beating war drums."
