Trending 
The Trump administration plans to set a refugee admissions ceiling of 17,500 over the next 12 months, targeting “primarily” white Afrikaners from South Africa, according to a State Department notice sent to Congress on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump claims Afrikaners face racial persecution in South Africa, an assertion the South African government denies.
Trump paused all US refugee admissions upon taking office in January 2025 before launching this focused initiative, which has drawn intense criticism from advocacy groups.
Read More : Three Held in South Africa Killings Probe
The State Department notice projects that the resettlement programme will cost approximately $500 million, stating it “anticipates that Afrikaners from South Africa will fully assimilate into the United States in a manner that preserves taxpayer resources for US citizens.”
Refugee processing data shows that South Africans accounted for all but three of the nearly 3,000 refugees admitted during fiscal year 2026.
Criticising the policy shift, Global Refuge President and CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah stated that “a refugee programme that centres one group and sidelines all others is an abdication of our global humanitarian leadership.”
