Trump sets refugee admissions ceiling at 7,500 for fiscal 2026, lowest cap on record
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US President Donald Trump said that admissions would be focused largely on South Africans from the country’s white Afrikaner ethnic minority.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- Trump set a refugee admissions ceiling of 7,500 for 2026. This is the lowest cap on record as of October 30.
- Focus is on South African Afrikaners, with Trump claiming they face persecution. The South African government denies this.
- The administration also considers prioritising Europeans facing discrimination. The White House aims to reshape asylum protections.
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump set the refugee admissions ceiling at 7,500 for fiscal year 2026, the lowest cap on record, a White House document published on Oct 30 said, part of a broader effort to reshape refugee policies in the US and worldwide.
Mr Trump said in an annual refugee determination dated to Sept 30 that admissions would be focused largely on South Africans from the country’s white Afrikaner ethnic minority.
He has claimed Afrikaners face persecution based on their race in the black-majority country, allegations the South African government has denied.
Mr Trump paused all US refugee admissions when he took office in January, saying they could be restarted only if they were established to be in the best interests of the US.
Weeks later, he launched an effort to bring in Afrikaners
In the determination published on Oct 30, Mr Trump said his administration would consider bringing in “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands”.
An internal document drafted by US government officials in April suggested the administration could also prioritise bringing in Europeans as refugees if they were targeted for expressing certain views, such as opposition to mass migration or support for populist political parties.
Europeans and other groups were not named in Mr Trump’s public refugee plan.
During the United Nations General Assembly in September, top Trump administration officials urged other nations to join a global campaign to roll back asylum protections, a major shift that would seek to reshape the post-World War II migration framework.
Reuters and other outlets earlier in October reported Mr Trump’s plans for the 7,500-person refugee ceiling.
In a related move, the White House said that it would move oversight of the refugee support programmes from the State Department to the Department of Health and Human Services. REUTERS
