Nationwide — Trump administration officials have told Congress that the United States plans to admit up to 17,500 refugees over the next year, but most of the spots are expected to go to white South Africans known as Afrikaners. The plan marks another major change to the U.S. refugee program under President Donald Trump.
The State Department detailed the plan in a notice sent to Congress on Tuesday, September 22. According to CBS News, the proposed limit covers fiscal year 2027, which begins in October. The administration said Afrikaners face land seizures, discrimination, and other forms of persecution in South Africa. It also said the group would be likely to assimilate into American society and that the government would work to limit the cost of resettlement to taxpayers.
South Africa’s government has repeatedly disputed the U.S. government’s description of conditions facing Afrikaners. South African officials have rejected the claim that white people are being targeted as a persecuted racial minority. They have also said violent crime and other security problems affect people across racial groups. Trump, however, has previously described the situation affecting white South Africans in much stronger terms and argued that they face serious racial discrimination.
The proposal comes after the Trump administration made major changes to refugee admissions following his return to office in January 2025. The administration initially paused refugee admissions before creating an exception for Afrikaners from South Africa. Since then, their resettlement has become a major focus of the program, while refugees escaping wars and persecution in other parts of the world have faced much tighter restrictions.
The shift can also be seen in the number of refugees admitted. State Department data cited by Reuters showed that nearly 3,000 refugees had entered the United States during fiscal year 2026 through August. All but three came from South Africa. That is a sharp change from fiscal year 2024, when the U.S. admitted more than 100,000 refugees from dozens of countries under the previous administration.
The proposed 17,500 admissions would cost the federal government about $500 million for resettlement. Presidents have traditionally set an annual refugee ceiling and divided admissions among different regions based on conflicts, persecution, and other humanitarian emergencies. Under the latest proposal, most available spots would instead be directed toward Afrikaners from South Africa, making the group a central focus of the U.S. refugee program.