President Donald Trump’s administration has informed Congress that it plans to admit up to 17,500 refugees in fiscal year 2027, most of them White South Africans. The plan appears in a State Department report obtained by CNN, as reported by KVIA. As a reminder, the U.S. fiscal year begins on October 1.
According to the report, most places in the refugee program would go to Afrikaners, descendants of European settlers in South Africa. The State Department says they face discrimination. South African authorities reject the Trump administration’s claims that they are being persecuted. According to the same report, resettling refugees under the proposed plan would cost about $500 million.
In February 2025, the Trump administration directed US agencies to prioritize the admission of Afrikaners it says face racial discrimination. Refugee advocates have criticized the policy, arguing that it has sharply limited opportunities for people from other countries to seek refuge in the United States.
