Trump says white South Africans are persecuted

Andrew Veitch left South Africa after being held up at gunpoint in his car.



But now he feels there are greater threats in the United States, he said, citing mass shootings in public places as well as violence by U.S. immigration officers.



The 53 year ols said "People are being shot in broad daylight. American citizens are being shot and killed," and "I don't want to live in a place like this."



US President Donald Trump's officials have said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were justified ⁠in firing the shots that killed two U.S. citizens in January, although video evidence has contradicted their accounts.



Veitch plans to return to South Africa this year, one of thousands of white South Africans coming back, despite Trump's statements that the white minority is being persecuted by the country's Black majority government.



Pretoria says there is no evidence of discrimination or persecution against whites.



Many have left since the end of white minority rule in 1994, some citing crime and difficulty getting jobs, but many are also returning.



Veitch is among 12,000 people who have checked their citizenship status in an online portal launched by the government in November after the overturning of a 1995 law that stripped citizenship from some South Africans who left.