Trump administration to admit primarily Afrikaners under new refugee proposal

The Trump administration ‌plans to set a refugee admissions ceiling of 17,500 over the next 12 months consisting "primarily" of South Africans from the country's white Afrikaner ethnic minority, according to ​a notice sent to Congress on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed ​Afrikaners face persecution based on their race in the Black-majority ⁠country, allegations the South African government has denied.

Trump paused all US refugee ​admissions when he took office in January 2025, saying they would only ​be restarted if it was in the country's best interests. Weeks later, he launched an effort to bring in Afrikaners, sparking criticism from refugee advocates who decried ​the exclusion of people of other nationalities fleeing persecution and violence.

The ​notice sent by the State Department to congressional officials said it "anticipates that Afrikaners from ‌South ⁠Africa will fully assimilate into the United States in a manner that preserves taxpayer resources for US citizens."

Resettlement under the proposed ceiling is expected to cost approximately $500 million, the notice said.

All but three of the nearly ​3,000 people admitted ​as refugees in ⁠the current fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, were South Africans, according to State Department data through ​August.

In fiscal year 2024, by contrast, the Biden administration ​brought in ⁠more than 100,000 refugees from dozens of countries.

“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,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, said in a statement.

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