New figures released by the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration reveal that the U.S. has accepted 5,948 refugees into the country for the year to date, all of whom are from South Africa.
It follows a presidential memo issued on September 30 last year when Donald Trump made clear he intended to cut the number of refugees allowed into the United States to just 7,500 per year and grant priority to white South Africans.
“The admissions numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa pursuant to Executive Order 14204, and other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands,” read the memo addressed to the secretaries of the State, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services departments.
That cut to the annual limit was duly implemented and compares with the 100,060 refugees welcomed into the U.S. in 2024, the final year of Joe Biden’s presidency, which was still well below the upper limit set at the time of 125,000.
The bureau of population’s data stretches back further to last October, showing a total of 6,668 refugees for the first seven months of the 2026 fiscal year, all but three of whom originated from South Africa.
A trio of refugees originally from Afghanistan were taken in by the state of Colorado in November, but they are the sole exception to the trend.
The Trump administration has claimed that white South Africans, meaning those descended from European settlers, are victims of “unjust racial discrimination” and even “genocide” from their country’s Black population, despite the country’s president repeatedly being assured this is not the case.
The same argument has also been promoted by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a former Trump ally, who was born and raised in Pretoria.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, declared last May: “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. This is race-based persecution.”
Speaking soon after as the first planeload of white South Africans was due to arrive at Washington Dulles International Airport, Trump rebuked U.S. media for neglecting their plight and commented: “It’s a genocide that’s taking place that you people don’t want to write about.
“It’s a terrible thing that’s taking place. And farmers are being killed. They happen to be white, but whether they’re white or Black makes no difference to me, but white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa refuted his claims in the Oval Office in person last year, even when Trump attempted to present him with photos and video “evidence” of the atrocities he alleged.
Ramaphosa spokesperson Vincent Magwenya subsequently addressed the departing white South Africans by telling NPR: “These people won’t be stopped from going, albeit under a false narrative.
“There’s no legal or any factual basis for the executive order sanctioning this action. None of the provisions of international law on the definition of refugees are applicable in this case.”
Chrispin Phiri, a spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry, likewise told The New York Times: “The resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically-motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy.”
A group of more than 40 prominent white South Africans then hit back against Trump’s claims that they are being “slaughtered” in November, telling the president in an open letter that they are “not pawns in America’s culture wars.”
Still not persuaded, the president now appears intent on increasing the refugee admissions ceiling by 10,000 for this year to allow for more white South Africans to enter the country, according to Reuters, citing a presidential determination dated May 21.
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