Trump raises refugee ceiling by 10,000 to bring in more white South Africans
eople from the first group of white South Africans granted refugee status for being deemed victims of racial discrimination under U.S. President Trump's Refugee plan, check in for a connecting flight, at Dulles International Airport, in Dulles, Virginia, U.S., May 12, 2025. PHOTO | REUTERS
Washington. US President Donald Trump increased the refugee admissions ceiling by 10,000 for this year to allow more white South Africans to enter the country, according to a signed presidential determination reviewed by Reuters.
The document, dated May 21, said white South Africans of Afrikaner ethnicity face an emergency situation due to the “incitement of racially motivated violence” by the government and political parties in the majority-Black country.
Trump, a Republican, froze refugee admissions from around the world when he took office in January 2025, but weeks later launched a programme exclusively aimed at bringing in white South Africans. The effort, which prioritised white refugees while shunning thousands of others from Africa, Asia and elsewhere, formed part of a broader challenge to humanitarian norms around refugee protection.
The Trump administration has admitted only three non-South African refugees during this fiscal year, according to government figures.
South Africa rejects persecution claims
South Africa’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, rejected claims that European-descended Afrikaners face danger and discrimination.
“The assertion that white Afrikaners, in particular, endure systemic persecution is entirely without foundation,” Phiri told Reuters in a statement.
The White House document did not provide specific examples of South Africa’s government allegedly inciting racial violence.
A State Department spokesperson declined to confirm the 10,000-person increase to the refugee cap, but said the programme remained a Trump priority and that the president would determine refugee levels.
Trump initially set the refugee ceiling at a record-low 7,500 for fiscal year 2026, which ends on September 30. However, the administration had already brought in 6,000 white South Africans by the end of April, according to government figures.
Trump’s decision to raise the refugee admissions ceiling increases the total cap to 17,500.
Reuters first reported the planned expansion of the refugee programme in April.
Refugee programme proceeds despite tensions
During apartheid, which ended with South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, the country maintained a racially segregated system with separate schools, neighbourhoods and public facilities for people classified as Black, white, Asian or coloured, a term used in South Africa for certain mixed-race communities.
Black South Africans make up 81 percent of the population, according to 2022 census data. Afrikaners and other white South Africans account for 7 percent.
Tensions over the Trump-led refugee effort escalated in December after South African authorities raided a building in Johannesburg where US staff and contractors were processing refugee applications.
Following meetings between diplomats from both countries weeks later, South Africa agreed to allow the US programme to continue operating, Reuters reported at the time.
In the presidential determination expanding the programme, Trump cited “new disruptions” to refugee operations in South Africa as contributing to the urgent need to admit more Afrikaners.
To further highlight the initiative, the Trump administration is reportedly interested in bringing white South African refugees to the White House for World Refugee Day on June 20, according to a US official and an internal government email reviewed by Reuters.
