US to cut refugee admissions to 7,500 from 125,000
Trump has previously claimed that Afrikaners face persecution in South Africa, based on their race while its government has denied the claim
The US will cut the number of refugees allowed into the country to 7,500 next year, the White House says. White South Africans and "other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination" will be the only refugees admitted.
The administration of President Donald Trump plans to allow only 7,500 refugees into the United States in 2026, according to a notice published yesterday (31 October) in the US Federal Registry.
By privileging Afrikaners while continuing to ban thousands of refugees who have already been vetted and approved, the administration is once again politicising a humanitarian programme
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The figure represents a dramatic reduction after his predecessor Joe Biden's administration had previously admitted 125,000 people from all over the world annually.
"The admissions numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa," Trump's order said, along with "other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands."
The statement did not elaborate on the origin countries of "other victims."
After taking office in January, Trump essentially halted refugee arrivals, only making an exception for white South Africans.
Trump has previously claimed that Afrikaners face persecution in South Africa, based on their race. The South African government has denied the claim.
The refugee programme has been around since 1980, and the authority to set the cap on admissions rests with the president.
During his first term, Trump lowered the cap each year until it reached 15,000 in the last year of his presidency.
Rights groups decry programme's 'politisation'
Advocates for refugee rights in the US and abroad criticised the Trump administration's move, saying it undermined national security.
"By privileging Afrikaners while continuing to ban thousands of refugees who have already been vetted and approved, the administration is once again politicising a humanitarian programme," said Sharif Aly, president of IRAP, a global legal aid and advocacy organisation.
The NGO Human Rights First said the decision was a "new low point" in US foreign policy.
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president & CEO of Global Refuge, warned that concentrating "the vast majority of admissions" on any one group "undermines the programme's purpose as well as its credibility."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said more than two million refugees have been admitted into the United States under the programme since 1980.
Reichlin-Melnick lamented what he saw as "a downfall for a crown jewel of America's international humanitarian programs."
