U.S. President Donald Trump increased the refugee admissions ceiling by 10,000 for this year to allow more white South Africans into the country, a presidential determination reviewed by Reuters showed.
The document, dated May 21, stated white South Africans of Afrikaner ethnicity face an emergency due to “incitement of racially motivated violence” by the government and political parties in the majority-Black nation.
Trump, a Republican, froze refugee admissions globally when he took office in January 2025, but weeks later launched a programme exclusively aimed at white South Africans.
The White House, U.S. State Department and South Africa’s government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
He initially set the refugee ceiling at a record-low 7,500 for fiscal year 2026, which ends on September 30. But his administration has already brought in 6,000 white South Africans through the end of April, government figures show. Trump’s decision to increase the number of refugee admissions brings the total ceiling to 17,500.
Reuters first reported the planned refugee program expansion in April.
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.
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.
“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.”
