U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is discussing a refugee admissions cap of around 40,000 for the coming year with a majority allocated to white South Africans, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter and an internal refugee program email, reflecting a major shift in the U.S. approach to refugees.
Angie Salazar, the top refugee program official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told state-level refugee workers that she expected the cap to be 40,000, according to an email summary of an August 1 meeting reviewed by Reuters.
The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some 30,000 of the 40,000 spaces would be devoted to Afrikaners, a largely Dutch-descended minority in South Africa that Trump has prioritized for resettlement. A separate person familiar with the matter said that in addition to the 40,000 figure, a cap as low as 12,000 had also been discussed.
In addition to Afrikaners, the Trump administration expects to bring in some Afghans who aided the U.S. government during the conflict in Afghanistan and is weighing whether to resettle Ukrainians, the email said. Some spaces would remain unallocated to potentially be filled by other nationalities, the email and officials said.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly stressed that no decisions were final until Trump issued his determination for fiscal year 2026, which begins on October 1.
A senior State Department official pointed to the department's recent human rights report, which raised concerns about "inflammatory racial rhetoric against Afrikaners and other racial minorities" in South Africa.
The U.S. State Department laid off many refugee program staffers in major workforce reductions in July. To compensate for the fired staff, workers from HHS who normally deal with domestic refugee assistance have been reassigned to the South Africa program, one of the officials said.
Some South Africans now in the U.S. with refugee status have reached out to HHS to raise concerns about a lack of benefits to support them, one of the U.S. officials said. Trump slashed refugee benefits after taking office, including reducing cash assistance and healthcare benefits that normally last a year to four months.
Posted by John3262005
9 Comments
Believing that it’s more important to grant refugee status to Afrikaners than Ukrainians is demonic.
And Ukrainians, Gazans, Sudanese people can fuck off i suppose?
Thanks a fucking lot Elon Musk. You’ve convinced Trump to help people with a very low likelihood of death, while people in war torn areas and possible victims of genocide remain in danger
Good news is if the court let Trump revoke refugee status someone else could do the same and get these racists out of here
Don’t take the White House dog whistle bait guys
Literally 68 South Africans total showed up when they did this the first time.
59 the first time
9 the second.
It’ll be 3 next.
That leaves 39,932 spots to go but nice way to rile up the press Stephen Miller. I see you’re still up to the same shit you were when you went to our mutual high school.
Yelling you shouldn’t have to pick up your trash because that’s what the Mexican janitors were for.
Moron.
Will they find even 30k Afrikaners willing to move to the US? some of the first few that moved there were already crying about the lack of public housing and healthcare.
Reminder that Trump’s basic worldview stems from federal litigation against his father for illegally discriminating against black people in housing, as memorably captured in song by Woody Guthrie. And various people in Trump’s orbit have claimed over the years that he’s an out-and-out eugenicist racist.
are Ukrainians not white enough for him?
South Africa is an amazing country beloved by the vast majority of white South Africans who live there.
Why the fuck would you leave one of the most beautiful places on earth, with some of the best food and music ever made, where you have roots, just to experience authoritarian backsliding: white people edition?
It would only make sense if white genocide in SA was real, but it’s a nonsense dogwhistle, so nobody will come.
Less than a hundred people. Calling it now.
Not many afrikaners are willing to move because it is incredibly hard to rebuild life when you have something going on
Not even 100 people came through this route , you will never find thousands of south african refugees