Trump considering increase in refugee admissions to bring in more white South Africans, official says

Donald Trump’s administration is mulling a plan that would more than double the annual limit for refugee admissions so the government can bring more white South Africans to the U.S.The proposal follows the administration’s overhauling of the nation’s refugee admissions program to explicitly prioritize Afrikaners, The Independent previously reported.Trump has already lowered the ceiling for annual admissions from 125,000 people to a record-low 7,500 — shutting off resettlement to thousands of already-vetted refugees who were preparing to start their life in the U.S. — and then limiting those admissions to mostly white South Africans.U.S. officials are now considering a plan to increase that cap by another 10,000 to resettle more Afrikaners, according to Reuters, citing people familiar with the plans.Andrew Veprek, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, appeared to confirm the administration’s discussions during an event with the Center for Immigration Studies think tank on Thursday.The Trump administration has explicitly prioritized white South Africans in a radically reshaped refugee program that has set a ceiling for annual admissions at a record-low 7,500 people (AFP/Getty)“South Africa is kind of the DEI regime par excellence, and so there is an important kind of signaling function in why we want to bring people from South Africa here,” said Veprek, referencing the president’s crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.The president has claimed white farmers and Afrikaners are experiencing a “white genocide” enabled by South Africa’s government, which officials and prominent Afrikaners have vehemently denied.Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and a chief architect of the president’s anti-immigration campaign, told reporters last year that “what’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created.”“This is persecution based on a protected characteristic, in this case, race,” he said.The administration is now looking at the “possibility” of raising the ceiling for refugee admissions to allow more white South Africans, Veprek said.“President Trump has explained why we are resettling Afrikaner refugees in the United States. The U.S. position on this humanitarian initiative has not changed,” a State Department spokesperson told The Independent on Thursday.If the president decides to raise the refugee admissions cap, “he will do so at the appropriate time, and any numbers discussed at this point are only speculation,” the spokesperson said.The US admitted roughly 4,500 South Africans as refugees through the first six months of the fiscal year, according to the State Department. The administration is now considering expanding a refugee admissions cap to allow more Afrikaners (AFP/Getty)Under Trump, the U.S. admitted roughly 4,500 South Africans as refugees through the first six months of the fiscal year, according to the State Department. The only refugees other than white South Africans to enter this fiscal year were three Afghans, the agency’s data shows.That radical reduction of refugee admissions is a stark break from long-standing refugee policy informed by humanitarian needs, not ideology or identity, according to refugee resettlement groups.“So many are being left behind,” Beth Oppenheim, CEO of HIAS, the nation's oldest refugee agency, said in a statement shared with The Independent.“Afghans who have no pathway to reunite with their loved ones. Iranian religious minorities, including hundreds of Jews, who are vulnerable in a way that many of us can barely imagine. We have to continue to remind the world that these stories matter — that these lives matter — and always will,” she said.Moments after Trump entered office last year, the administration abruptly canceled previously arranged refugee flights, a move that blindsided resettlement groups and stranded thousands of people.Homeland Security also threatened to cut off humanitarian protections for thousands of Afghans who fled the country following the U.S. withdrawal in 2021, claiming there have been “notable improvements” in Afghanistan’s national security and an increase in tourism.In the months that followed, the administration further slashed financial aid and healthcare coverage for refugees and resettlement programs, and the president’s massive domestic spending package cut off refugees from Medicaid, Medicare, children’s health insurance and emergency food assistance.In May, a first group of 59 white South Africans were admitted to the country as “refugees,” and the United States “essentially extended citizenship” to them, Trump said at the time.Trump then set the record-low refugee ceiling of 7,500 for fiscal year 2026, which began October 1, 2025.