Are claims of a white genocide in South Africa real?

An Afrikaner lobby group has displayed thousands of white crosses on the National Mall in Washington DC, saying they represent the victims of a genocide of white people in South Africa.

South Africa’s new ambassador to the US, Roelf Meyer, has stated that there is no evidence for a mass attack on the white Afrikaner minority in South Africa and dismisses the genocide claim as unsubstantiated.

In a separate development, the Trump administration is planning to admit as many as 17,500 white Afrikaners as refugees over the next twelve months, a proposal that has sparked debate over U.S. immigration policy.

BBC North America correspondent Ione Wells explains the United States’ role in the claim of a genocide and the political context behind the influx of refugees.