The previous limit, which provided for 125,000 refugees to enter the country annually, had been established by Joe Biden
Donald Trump’s US government will limit the number of refugees admitted annually to the United States to 7,500, the majority of whom will be white South Africans, a policy criticized by non-governmental organizations.
The new numbers represent an abrupt drop from the 125,000 limit established last year by former Democratic President Joe Biden, having been published in a notice in the Federal Register (similar to the Official Gazette) without an official justification for the variation and admission criteria.
The admission of 7,500 refugees in the 2026 fiscal year, which began on October 1, is “justified on humanitarian grounds or to serve the national interest” and the notice cited by the AP agency does not mention any specific group to be admitted other than white South Africans, also known as Afrikaners.
Refugee status may be granted to “other victims of illegal or unfair discrimination in their respective countries of origin”, the notice states, without specifying.
Until recently, the American refugee program had bipartisan support.
Trump suspended the refugee program on his first day in office and since then only a small number of refugees have entered the country, mostly white South Africans.
Some refugees were also admitted as part of a legal process that sought to allow entry to those who were abroad and in the process of immigrating to the United States when the program was suspended.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Refuge, one of the main North American immigrant support agencies, criticized the new government policy, considering that “concentrating the vast majority of admissions in a single group undermines the purpose of the program, as well as its credibility”.
“This decision doesn’t just lower the refugee admission limit. It lowers our moral standing,” Vignarajah told the AP.
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), which took legal action against the suspension of the program, said in a statement that refugees awaiting admission into the country have already undergone rigorous security checks and are being held in dangerous conditions.
“By privileging Afrikaners while continuing to ban the entry of thousands of refugees who have already been assessed and approved, the government is once again politicizing a humanitarian program,” said the group’s president, Sharif Aly, quoted by AP.
The Trump administration announced the program to Afrikaners in February, claiming that white South African farmers faced discrimination and violence in their country, an accusation the South African government vehemently denies.
US presidents have the authority to set refugee admission limits, often taking into account State Department recommendations or consulting with refugee resettlement agencies.
The new limit represents the lowest number of refugees admitted to the US since the program’s creation in 1980.
During his first term, Trump progressively reduced the limit each year, until it reached 15,000 in the final year of his administration.
A separate program for former US government collaborators is still admitting Afghans into the country, but tens of thousands of them have not received immigration authorization.
Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, an organization that advocates for the resettlement of at-risk Afghans, described Thursday’s decision as a “horrendous betrayal” and “a very sad day.”
“I think we need to face the facts. This means that the President and the White House (…) will not allow Afghan refugees to come here,” he said in a video posted on Instagram.
