USA22 September, 20262 min read
Trump Administration Sets 17,500 Refugee Cap For White South Africans In Fiscal Year 2027
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Refugee cap set at 17,500 for fiscal year 2027. Most admitted refugees are expected to be White South Africans.
9 outlets told this the same way.
17,500 Refugee Ceiling
The Trump administration told Congress it intends to accept 17,500 refugees, primarily White South Africans, in fiscal year 2027, according to a notice sent to Congress and obtained by CBS News. The State Department told congressional officials that the admissions will “primarily” go to Afrikaners, whom President Trump has claimed are being oppressed for being White, and the notice said the resettlement effort is projected to cost $500 million.
The Jerusalem Post said the notice set a refugee admissions ceiling of 17,500 over the next 12 months, consisting “primarily” of South Africans from the country’s white Afrikaner ethnic minority. The US government also accused South Africa of discriminating against and persecuting white South Africans, and it planned to provide around 500 million dollars next year for the resettlement of South African refugees, according to DIE WELT.
Claims of Persecution
The State Department told Congress that Afrikaners face the seizure of agricultural property without compensation and government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business. The State Department also told Congress that it “anticipates that Afrikaners from South Africa will fully assimilate into the United States in a manner that preserves taxpayer resources for US citizens,” according to CNN.
The South African government has denied that white South Africans, mainly members of the Afrikaans-speaking minority, are being persecuted in their country, and it rejected the depiction described in DIE WELT. Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, said in a statement that “A refugee program that centers one group and sidelines all others is an abdication of our global humanitarian leadership and an abandonment of thousands of vulnerable families.”
Program Reshaped
The Trump administration paused all US refugee admissions when it took office in January 2025, and it said it would restart only if it was in the country’s best interests, according to The Jerusalem Post. The administration then launched an effort to bring in Afrikaners, and it set the refugee admissions ceiling at 17,500 over the next 12 months, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Naomi Steinberg, Vice President of the refugee organization HIAS, said the program had offered refugees a life-saving path to safety for more than 40 years, but she said “Yet once again, this government blunts and distorts this legacy in the service of its political whims.” CBS News said the second Trump administration has effectively shut down the U.S. refugee resettlement program for most people fleeing persecution and violence around the world, while making an exemption for Afrikaners and resettling thousands of them over the past year and a half.