US refugee admissions to be cut to record low, white South Africans prioritised: Report
The US government is expected to reduce refugee admissions to a historic low of 7,500 people for the coming fiscal year, a huge reduction from the 125,000 cap set by the previous administration led by Joe Biden, the New York Times (NYT) reported on Tuesday.
Donald Trump is the first president to set a presidential determination on refugee admissions (PD) below 60,000.
The new cap would also prioritise mostly white South Africans and others facing "unjust discrimination" ahead of those who have already been approved, according to people familiar with the matter and documents obtained by the NYT, including a presidential determination dated 30 September and signed by Trump.
The Refugee Act of 1980 mandates that the president sign the annual PD for the coming fiscal year by 30 September and consult with Congress before signing.
No such consultation has taken place. It is expected to happen after the current government shutdown ends, with final numbers to be approved then.
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If the refugee admissions cap of 7,500 comes to pass, it would be a blow to more than 12,000 vulnerable people who had been conditionally approved for resettlement and had flights booked, in addition to almost 90,000 others who had been approved for resettlement before Trump came into office.
Trump suspended the country's refugee resettlement programme in an executive order signed on 20 January.
Mevlude Akay Alp, senior staff attorney at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), told MEE in a statement: "Any refugee admissions policy that leaves out people who are already in the pipeline, including over 12,000 refugees who had their travel arrangements cancelled as a result of the refugee ban on January 20, is unfair, unjust and leaves families and individuals in terribly dangerous situations."
"We expect to see a proper presidential determination process as determined by the law. That includes public hearings and proper Congressional consultation so the American people can hear the stories of the people our nation has abandoned this year."
'Defying US law'
Refugee Council USA (RCUSA), a national coalition of more than 40 non-profit organisations, expressed alarm over the PD being lowered to 7,500 people.
"After defying US law by failing to consult with Congress, the Trump administration has broken faith with the American people, who have welcomed refugees into their communities for decades – and with refugees who have been waiting in line for years," RCUSA's executive director John Slocum said in a statement sent to MEE.
'We call upon the administration to reverse course and uphold the proud tradition of the refugee programme by prioritising those most at-risk'
- Rick Santos, president at Church World Service
"A record-low refugee admissions goal aligns with this administration’s consistently bad-faith approach to refugee and humanitarian protections, jeopardising people’s lives, separating families, and undermining our national security and economic growth," Slocum added. He urged elected leaders to "publicly urge" the president to reverse course.
Meanwhile, Rick Santos, president and CEO at Church World Service, issued a public statement in which he said that the direction of the current administration upended 45 years of American ideals.
"In a fraction of that time, this administration has abandoned the programme they created - and left thousands of already-approved refugees stranded overseas in increasingly dangerous conditions," he said.
"We call upon the administration to reverse course and uphold the proud tradition of the refugee programme by prioritising those most at-risk, including Afghans, Sudanese, Congolese, Somalis, religious minorities, unaccompanied refugee children, families awaiting reunification and others. "
The Biden administration set the refugee admissions cap at 125,000 from fiscal years 2022 to 2025.
Over those fiscal years, the number of refugees admitted was 25,465 (2022), 60,014 (2023), 100,034 (2024) and 27,308 (2025), respectively, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute.
White South Africans
The Trump administration is prioritising resettlement of white South Africans, known as Afrikaners, claiming they are facing a "white genocide", something that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and a delegation of white South Africans, who visited Trump in the Oval Office, have denied as baseless.
Afrikaners tend to be descendants of Dutch settlers who arrived in South Africa in the 17th century, helped implement Apartheid, and have traditionally enjoyed privilege.
Afrikaners say they are fleeing job discrimination and racial violence in their home country.
In May, almost 60 white South Africans were granted refugee status in the US and were resettled later the same month.
US vetting processes for refugees normally take 18 to 24 months, according to the State Department's website. However, the Afrikaners' cases were expedited, and they were given preference over those who had been approved from war zones or facing imminent harm.
Multiple legal cases have been filed against the Trump administration to enable those who were approved for resettlement to be allowed into the US, including a class action lawsuit filed by the IRAP.
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