Washington– The Trump administration is restricting the number of refugees Up to 7,500 enter the country annually Most of them will be white South Africans, a significant decline after the United States previously allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution from around the world.
The Republican administration broke the news Thursday in a Federal Register notice.
No reason was given for the numbers, which represent a significant drop from last year’s ceiling of 125,000 set under Democratic President Joe Biden. The Associated Press reported earlier that the administration was considering accepting at least 7,500 refugees Most of them are white South Africans.
The memo stated only that the admission of 7,500 refugees during fiscal year 2026 was “justified by humanitarian concerns or in the national interest.”
The reduced cap represents another blow to the long-standing program that until recently enjoyed bipartisan support.
Trump suspended the program on his first day in office, and since then only a small number of refugees have entered the country, most of them white South Africans. Some refugees were also admitted as part of a lawsuit seeking admission to refugees who were abroad and in the process of coming to the United States when the program was suspended.
The administration announced the Afrikaners program last February. Saying that white farmers in South Africa Facing discrimination and violence at home. The country’s government strongly denies this characterization.
Across the country, groups working to help resettle newly arrived refugees in the country have been forced to lay off staff as the number of people arriving under the long-standing program declines.