Trump pushes to admit 17,500 White Afrikaners from South Africa in 2027 refugee cap

The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed raising the refugee cap for the coming year to 17,500 people, which is a historically low figure, and which President Trump argued should primarily be given to white Afrikaners.

The move raises by 10,000 last year’s refugee cap – the lowest proposed rate in the history of the program – while retaining the unusual mandate to resettle one ethnic group from South Africa.

Started in the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) has offered refuge to those around the globe fleeing persecution and danger. Before last year, the program has never been used to offer assistance to one ethnic minority.

In asserting Afrikaners deserve the protections, the State Department repeated a number of claims that have been denied by the government of South Africa.

“Afrikaners face the seizure of agricultural property without compensation; government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business; and hateful rhetoric fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored minorities,” the department stated in a letter to Congress obtained by The Hill.

“The United States anticipates that Afrikaners from South Africa will fully assimilate into the United States in a manner that preserves taxpayer resources for U.S. citizens and does not anticipate other countries resettling Afrikaners.”

The government of South Africa has repeatedly denied Trump’s claims surrounding Afrikaners, calling them “completely false.”

“This reality is further corroborated by the actions of individuals who, despite having availed themselves of this preferential immigration program, have since resolved to return home,” spokesman Chrispin Phiri told The Associated Press in May when Trump raised the refugee cap to 10,000 from the original 7,500.

Refugee resettlement agencies have condemned the focus on one group

“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 who put their faith in our country,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, said in a statement.

“Behind that closed door stands everyone this country once promised to protect: the Afghan interpreter, the persecuted pastor, the mother fleeing a war zone who once had reason to believe America would keep its promise.”

HIAS, formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, noted in a press release that there are more than 200,000 refugees in the pipeline, something they argued was “leaving refugees in true need of protection stranded in precarious situations around the world.”

The U.S. has thus far failed to meet the updated cap imposed by Trump. CNN reported in July that the administration had accepted 7,700 Afrikaner refugees but came across unusual snags in the process, including having to reject applicants due to criminal backgrounds and also having potential refugees seek to delay their departure to wrap up business in South Africa.

The outlet reported that denial rates based on a criminal past were in the low tweens, while typically such rejections are in the single digits.

Under the Biden administration, the State Department recommended a cap of 125,000 refugees.