The Trump administration told Congress on Tuesday, September 22, that it plans to let in 17,500 refugees in the year that starts in October, and that they will "primarily be Afrikaners from South Africa," CNN reported. Afrikaners are white South Africans, mostly of European descent.
That isn't a new direction. It's more of what already happened this year. Of the 12,904 refugees the U.S. let in during the budget year that ends this month, all but three came from South Africa, according to the Washington Sun, citing the State Department's own arrival numbers.
For decades, America's refugee program was built for people running from war and persecution anywhere in the world. Under Trump, it has been turned into a program for one group of white people from one country.
What the plan says
The State Department's report to Congress says the new refugees will "primarily be Afrikaners from South Africa." It says it expects them to "fully assimilate into the United States in a manner that preserves taxpayer resources for U.S. citizens."
The plan is expected to cost about $500 million, according to the report.
That plan keeps going what Trump built this year. In a determination dated September 30, 2025, and made public at the end of October, he set a limit of 7,500 refugees for the whole year, the lowest in U.S. history, according to the refugee aid group Global Refuge, with the spots going "primarily" to Afrikaners. Then on May 21, 2026, he signed an emergency order adding 10,000 more spots, for Afrikaners only, raising the limit to 17,500. The order blamed "recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence on the part of the Government of South Africa."
Who got shut out
Trump suspended the refugee program in January 2025, right after he took office again. Global Refuge said the shutdown left tens of thousands of refugees stranded abroad, people the U.S. government had already put through its full screening. Many had sold their belongings, left their homes and quit their jobs to get ready for a trip that was suddenly called off.
Since then, the program has been "largely shuttered for the rest of the world," CNN reported. CBS News put it the same way: the administration has "effectively shut down" the refugee program for most people fleeing persecution and violence around the world, and made an exception for Afrikaners.
Refugee advocates told CNN that focusing on one group has shut out vulnerable people all over the world.
The 'genocide' that isn't
Trump has claimed that Afrikaners face a "genocide" in South Africa. The South African government strongly denies it. And when "60 Minutes" went to South Africa this year, it found Afrikaners who rejected the idea that white people there are facing a genocide, CBS News reported.
The State Department's case, in its notice to Congress, is that Afrikaners face "the seizure of agricultural property without compensation," government policies "designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business," and "hateful rhetoric." On that basis, the administration has put one white minority ahead of every other group of people fleeing danger in the world.
CNN also reported that the program has run into trouble of its own: diplomatic fights with South Africa, a scramble to open a processing site there, strange requests from applicants, and high denial rates, due in part to criminal records among some who applied.
This fits a pattern we've covered before. The same administration has moved to leave refugees and other immigrants out of the 2030 Census.
What we know
In January 2025, Trump shut the U.S. refugee program to almost everyone, stranding tens of thousands of already-screened refugees. Of the 12,904 refugees admitted this budget year, all but three came from South Africa. Now his administration has told Congress it will take in up to 17,500 more next year, "primarily" white Afrikaners, at a cost of about $500 million.
Source
Trump administration says most refugees accepted in 2027 will be White South Africans — CNN. The U.S. Will Admit 'Primarily' White South Africans as Refugees — The Washington Sun. Photo: Afrikaners arriving at Washington Dulles, May 12, 2025, Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images, via CBS News.
