US policy overhaul: Trump admin cuts refugee cap to 7,500, prioritises white South Africans

The Trump administration has sharply reduced the annual cap on refugee admissions to 7,500, with most of those expected to be white South Africans, a steep decline from the 125,000 ceiling set last year under former President Joe Biden.

The decision was formally published on Thursday in the Federal Register, though the administration provided no explanation for the drastic cut. The memo stated only that admitting 7,500 refugees in the 2026 fiscal year was “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”

The reduction marks another significant setback for the decades-old U.S. refugee resettlement program, which once enjoyed broad bipartisan backing.

The Trump administration had suspended the refugee program on its first day in office, allowing only a limited number of arrivals since then—mostly white South Africans. Some refugees were later permitted entry following a court ruling allowing those already in the admission process to continue.

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The administration announced the program for the Afrikaners in February, saying that white South African farmers face discrimination and violence at home. The country’s government strongly denies this characterisation.

Across the country groups that work to help resettle newly arrived refugees into the country have had to lay off staff as the number of people arriving under the longstanding program plummeted.

Soon after taking office, Trump signed an executive order that temporarily suspended the entry of most refugees even those already approved by US authorities, pending a comprehensive policy review.

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The order made a notable exception for South Africa’s Afrikaner community, which Trump has described as victims of racial persecution, a claim dismissed by South African officials and even some Afrikaners as unfounded.

The move reflects the Trump administration’s broader agenda to tighten immigration controls and limit who can enter the country. Earlier this year, it also scrapped Biden-era initiatives that granted temporary legal protection to migrants from Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Officials have since signalled that similar programs for Salvadoran and Honduran nationals could soon be rolled back as well.

With inputs from agencies