5:29The initial cohort of Afrikaners from South Africa to arrive for relocation are addressed by US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau upon their arrival at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, May 12, 2025.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration is reducing refugee entries to 7,500 — an unprecedentedly low figure — in the coming year, allocating the majority of placements for white Afrikaners hailing from South Africa along with other sufferers of what it describes as "illegal or unjust discrimination."
The fresh limit of 7,500 refugees signifies a major reduction from the ceiling of 125,000 established by the Biden administration the prior year.
The new threshold prevents a multitude of individuals from across the globe from seeking entry to the U.S. as a sanctuary from war, hunger, destitution, and brutality, and centers the refugee initiative on favoring mostly white South Africans.
The Trump administration issued its presidential memorandum in the Federal Register on Thursday and indicated that the choice to decrease refugee intake for fiscal year 2026 is "supported by humanitarian considerations or is otherwise in the national interest."
"The admissions numbers shall primarily be distributed among Afrikaners originating from South Africa according to Executive Order 14204, in addition to other victims of unlawful or inequitable discrimination within their respective native lands," the memo articulates.
On his first day holding office this year, President Donald Trump enacted an executive order essentially terminating the refugee resettlement scheme, abandoning thousands of refugees who had already endured exhaustive security vetting by the U.S. government in foreign lands. Many had liquidated possessions, relinquished accommodations, and resigned from positions in anticipation of imminent travel that was abruptly ceased.
The first group of Afrikaners from South Africa to arrive for resettlement listen to remarks from US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, May 12, 2025.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
In February, Trump endorsed an executive order asserting that the South African government had established a law permitting the "seizure of agricultural properties from ethnic minority Afrikaners without recompense," displaying a "stunning lack of regard for the entitlements of its citizenry."
The order communicated that the U.S. will withhold aid or support to the nation, and that the U.S. will "encourage the relocation of Afrikaner refugees fleeing government-endorsed race-based discrimination, notably racially biased property confiscation."
Elon Musk, a South African national, had been outspoken regarding the predicament of South African landowners while acting as a senior advisor to the president earlier in the year, amplifying allegations of "white genocide." The South African government, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, firmly refuted any mistreatment, including during a controversial Oval Office conference with Trump in May.
A plane transporting 59 refugees from South Africa touched down in the U.S. in May, with the Republican government conceding that the expedited procedure for white South Africans to pursue sanctuary within the United States was linked to "racial persecution."
Global Refuge, among the nation’s leading refugee resettlement organizations, conveyed significant worry over the new restriction, and stated that the reductions represent a "major divergence from decades of bipartisan policy guided by humanitarian necessity, not ideology or identity."
"This determination does more than merely diminish the refugee admissions threshold. It compromises our ethical stature," stated Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and C.E.O. of Global Refuge. "For more than four decades, the U.S. refugee scheme has been a vital resource for families escaping warfare, persecution, and oppression. During a moment of turbulence across countries spanning from Afghanistan to Venezuela to Sudan and elsewhere, dedicating the vast majority of admissions to a singular demographic undermines the program’s rationale coupled with its trustworthiness."
"We’re getting messages from Afghan women’s rights advocates, Venezuelan political objectors, Congolese families, persecuted Christians, in addition to other religious minorities, all now apprehensive that there is no room remaining for them within a system they had faith in," Vignarajah continued. "What refugee families require most urgently is a path to safeguarding that is unwavering, principled, and established upon the assurance that every existence possesses equivalent value, not solely the select few who embody a preferred attribute."
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
