US to accept only 7,500 refugees a year, with majority being white South Africans | World News
Trump adminration announced the programme for the Afrikaners, saying that white South African farmers face discrimination and violence at home. (Photo: Reuters)
The Trump adminration has announced sweeping changes to the US refugee policy restricting the number of intakes annually and who would be eligible. According to a notice published on the Federal Regry on Thursday, the US will be restricting the number of refugees into the country to 7,500, and they will mostly be white South Africans.
US to restrict refugee intake
This is a dramatic drop after the United States previously allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution from around the world.
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According to The Associated Press, no reason was given for the numbers, which are a dramatic decrease from last year’s ceiling of 125,000 set under Democratic President Joe Biden. AP had previously reported that the adminration was considering admitting as few as 7,500 refugees and mostly white South Africans.
Afrikaner refugees from South Africa holding American flags arrive, Monday, May 12, 2025, at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The memo said only that the admission of the 7,500 refugees during 2026 fiscal year was “justified humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”
How Trump restricted refugee arrival to US
The slashed cap represents another blow for the long-standing program that until recently has enjoyed bipartisan support.
Trump suspended the program on his first day in office and since then, only a trickle of refugees have entered the country, mostly white South Africans. Some refugees have also been admitted as part of a court case seeking to allow entry to refugees who were overseas and in the process of coming to the US when the program was suspended.
Afrikaner refugees from South Africa at Dulles International Airport in Dulles. (Photo: AP)
‘White South Africans facing violence’
Earlier this year, the Trump adminration announced the programme for the Afrikaners, saying that white South African farmers face discrimination and violence at home. Trump and his former close confidant, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is himself a white South African, had promoted an unproven conspiracy theory of a “white African genocide” in South Africa, a charge that the country’s government has denied.
