--- title: Trump Admin Limits Refugees, Prioritizing White South Africans description: Far fewer refugees will be admitted in the coming year, and most will be white South Africans Trump has said suffer racial discrimination. canonical: https://time.com/7329928/refugee-immigration-south-africa-trump/ author: Annika Neklason article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-10-30T18:20:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2025-10-30T19:55:38.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Admin Limits Refugees, Prioritizing White South Africans og:description: Far fewer refugees will be admitted in the coming year, and most will be white South Africans. og:url: https://time.com/7329928/refugee-immigration-south-africa-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ff84704ef9d9a60/6998cb46c8dcb41b12b509f8/refugees-us-south-africa-afrikaners.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-SAFRICA-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-IMMIGRATION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Admin Limits Refugees, Prioritizing White South Africans twitter:description: Far fewer refugees will be admitted in the coming year, and most will be white South Africans. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ff84704ef9d9a60/6998cb46c8dcb41b12b509f8/refugees-us-south-africa-afrikaners.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Trump Administration Is Slashing the Number of Refugees Allowed Into the U.S.—and Giving White South Africans Priority > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Annika Neklason](https://time.com/author/annika-neklason/) and [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) Updated: Oct 30, 2025 7:55 PM UTCPublished: Oct 30, 2025 6:20 PM UTC  The first group of Afrikaners from South Africa to arrive for resettlement listen to remarks from U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar (both out of frame), after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, on May 12, 2025. The first group of Afrikaners from South Africa to arrive for resettlement listen to remarks from U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar (both out of frame), after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, on May 12, 2025.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images by [Annika Neklason](https://time.com/author/annika-neklason/) and [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) Updated: Oct 30, 2025 7:55 PM UTCPublished: Oct 30, 2025 6:20 PM UTC Far fewer refugees will be allowed into the U.S. in the coming year, and most of those who are admitted will be [white South Africans](https://time.com/7284895/south-african-refugees-landed-trump/) who President Donald Trump has alleged face “unjust” racial discrimination in their country. The Trump Administration will limit refugee admissions to no more than 7,500 during the 2026 fiscal year, the White House announced in a [notice](https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-19752.pdf) published in the Federal Register on Thursday, a dramatic 94% decrease from the 125,000 figure set last year under President Joe Biden. The White House said the significantly reduced number of overall refugee admissions is “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest,” but did not provide further explanation. Admissions will also “primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa,” the notice said, as well as other victims of “illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.” It pointed to an [Executive Order](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/addressing-egregious-actions-of-the-republic-of-south-africa/) the President issued in February, in which Trump condemned South Africa for what he described as “countless” policies restricting the opportunities of Afrikaners and fueling “disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.” Afrikaners, who are descendants of primarily Dutch colonial settlers who arrived in South Africa in the 1600s, governed the country from 1948 to 1994 and imposed racial separation laws known as apartheid. **Read more:** [_The Long History of the U.S. Backing White South Africans_](https://time.com/7287684/history-us-white-south-africa/) South African officials have strongly disputed the claims that Afrikaners are the victims of racial persecution. “There are sufficient structures available within South Africa to address concerns of discrimination. Moreover, even if there are allegations of discrimination, it is our view that these do not meet the threshold of persecution required under domestic and international refugee law,” the South African Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation said in a [statement](https://dirco.gov.za/government-of-south-africa-engages-united-states-on-resettlement-concerns/) earlier this year, contending that U.S. efforts to resettle South Africans as refugees appeared “entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy.” On the first day of his second term, Trump suspended all refugee admissions to the U.S, [saying](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/realigning-the-united-states-refugee-admissions-program/) in his Executive Order that the country “lacks the 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, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.” But just over two weeks later, he announced an exception for white South Africans, raising the allegations that they were being discriminated against. In May, a chartered plane with 50 Afrikaners on board [landed](https://time.com/7284895/south-african-refugees-landed-trump/) in the U.S. The move marked a significant shift in the country’s refugee policy—typically, refugees entering the U.S. are vetted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which refers people escaping persecution and violence in their home nations to safer countries. 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