The Trump administration has announced its decision to limit the number of refugees admitted to the US to 7,500, and give priority to white South Africans.
The move, announced in a notice published on Thursday, will apply for the next fiscal year and marks a dramatic cut from the previous limit of 125,000 set by former President Joe Biden.
No reason was given for the cut, but the notice said it was “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”
The notice posted to the website of the Federal Register said that the 7,500 admissions would “primarily” be allocated to Afrikaner South Africans and “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.”
In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order suspending the US Refugee Admissions Programme, or USRAP, which he said would allow US authorities to prioritise national security and public safety.
On his first day in office on January 20, 2025, Trump said that the US would suspend USRAP to reflect the US’s lack of “ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans.”
In the Oval Office in May, Trump criticised South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and claimed white farmers in his nation were being killed and “persecuted.”
The White House also played a video which they said showed burial sites for murdered white farmers. Trump said he did not know where in South Africa the scene was filmed. The tense meeting came just days after the US granted asylum to 60 Afrikaners.
The US policy of accepting white South Africans has already prompted accusations of unfair treatment from refugee advocacy groups.
Some have argued the US is now effectively shut to other persecuted groups or people facing potential harm in their home country, and even former allies that helped US forces in Afghanistan or the Middle East.
Global Refuge CEO and President, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah said that the decision doesn’t just lower the refugee admissions ceiling, “it lowers our moral standing.”
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