Web Desk — October 30, 2025
Washington: In a dramatic policy shift, President Donald Trump has set the refugee admissions ceiling for fiscal year 2026 at just 7,500—the lowest on record—focusing primarily on white South Africans from the Afrikaner ethnic minority, a White House document revealed Thursday. The move marks a steep drop from the 125,000 cap established under former President Joe Biden and underscores Trump’s restrictive immigration agenda.
The administration justified the limit as “necessary for national security, immigration system integrity, and prioritizing American citizens’ employment and protection.” The memo, dated September 30 and published in the Federal Register, emphasized admissions for “victims of illegal or unjust discrimination,” with a heavy emphasis on Afrikaners, whom Trump claims face racial persecution in majority-Black South Africa—a charge denied by Pretoria. Only 138 such refugees had arrived by early September, despite an earlier executive order fast-tracking them.
Human rights organizations and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed profound alarm, warning the cap will devastate thousands fleeing war, persecution, and violence in conflict zones like Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. “This slashes America’s humanitarian legacy, leaving vulnerable families in limbo and signaling a retreat from global responsibility,” a UNHCR spokesperson stated. Critics, including Global Refuge, decried the ethnic prioritization as discriminatory, potentially undermining the program’s credibility amid record global displacement of over 120 million people.
The decision revives Trump’s first-term slashes to refugee levels, paused briefly in 2021 before resuming restrictions. Internal documents suggest potential expansions to Europeans targeted for anti-migration views, though not detailed publicly. Advocacy groups vow legal challenges, arguing it violates U.S. commitments under international law.
