OHIO — President Trump announced a refugee resettlement program for white South Africans and other minorities in February of the previous year. An estimated 6,300 people have arrived in the U.S. under this program. Of these, 206 Afrikaners have resettled in Ohio.

In June, Ohio implemented new driving license requirements for lawful residents who are not U.S. citizens or green card holders. These rules mandate eight hours of lessons at a designated driving school, 24 hours of classroom instruction, and 50 hours of supervised driving. Meeting these requirements costs approximately $500 and can take up to nine months to complete.

Resettlement agencies estimate that approximately half of the South African arrivals have relocated out of Ohio. In April, media reports indicated at least four South African refugees returned to South Africa. One Ohio-based South African posted on X on May 7, requesting authorities to “Stop sending South African refugees to Ohio immediately!” due to the state driving laws.

Under the Trump administration, federal refugee cash assistance was reduced from 12 months to four months. An Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokesperson stated, “At this time, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) has not received any direct reports from these refugees indicating they are experiencing financial hardship or planning to return to their home country and therefore cannot speculate.”

Refugee resettlement program representative Katelyn Recicar said, “A lot of them are out-migrating, which means they arrived here and they choose to opt out of the program and move out of state.” She added, “In the past, we had it happen usually if specifically someone had a family member in another state to support them. But now it’s pretty much because of the driving. There’s been a few cases in where it’s really been a sticking point for refugees.”

Afrikaners in Ohio created a crowdfunding campaign to assist newly arrived refugees. This campaign, created by Pieter van der Walt, raised over $10,000 by May 21. Some South African arrivals have reported difficulties obtaining transportation to food banks in Akron.