Trump Refugee Policy Prioritizes White South Africans

According to an exclusive story by Reuters, a January 27 U.S. State Department document outlines an objective to process 4,500 refugee applications per month from white South Africans, a target that would far exceed U.S. President Donald Trump’s stated global admissions cap of 7,500 refugees for fiscal year 2026.

The document indicates that temporary modular facilities are being installed on embassy property in Pretoria to accelerate case handling.

As of January 31, only 2,000 white South Africans had entered the United States under a program launched in May 2025. Admissions accelerated in December and January, with roughly 1,500 arrivals during those two months, compared with about 500 during the prior six and a half months.

Despite the increased pace, operational disruptions have intervened. Refugee travel, including for South Africans, was paused from February 23 to March 9 due to what officials described as operational factors. Because of a sweeping refugee suspension issued in January 2025, each South African case requires individual approval by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. A U.S. official familiar with the matter said Department of Homeland Security delays have created an administrative backlog.

The contracting document, posted Wednesday to a U.S. government database, cites an urgent need for a secure processing site. It states that “the inability to safely process about 4,500 applicants per month, an objective communicated to (the U.S. State Department’s refugee division) from the White House, would result in failure to meet a Presidential priority.”

The urgency followed a December immigration raid by South African authorities at a commercial processing site in Johannesburg, where seven Kenyan contractors were arrested for alleged visa violations and two U.S. refugee officers were briefly detained.

After closed-door talks in late December, processing resumed. A South African firm received a $772,000 no-bid contract to install 14 prefabricated modular buildings forming a temporary village at the Pretoria embassy compound. Applicants have reported interviews conducted in trailer-like structures at the site.

Trump initiated a broad halt to refugee admissions after taking office in 2025 but later carved out a pathway for white Afrikaner South Africans, citing claims of violent persecution. South Africa’s government rejected that assertion as “fundamentally unsubstantiated.”

The South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S. said more than 67,000 people had expressed interest in relocation.

Human rights organizations have previously criticized the policy of prioritizing white South Africans for refugee applications. In an October 16 statement, Human Rights Watch said the administration was making “deep cuts in refugee admissions” while prioritizing Europeans and white South Africans, calling it a 180° resettlement turn that adds “deep insult to even deeper injury”.

On October 30, 2025, Amy Fischer of Amnesty International USA said prioritizing white Afrikaners was “a racist move” that would turn the U.S. away from people fleeing persecution, violence and human rights abuses worldwide.

Mid-December tensions between Washington and Pretoria over processing operations underscored the diplomatic sensitivity of the initiative. South Africa’s foreign ministry said it would not interfere if the program stayed within legal bounds, while reiterating its rejection of systemic persecution claims.

Whether the administration can sustain a processing rate of 4,500 per month remains uncertain given statutory caps, case-by-case approvals, and recent travel suspensions. Nonetheless the policy marks a significant recalibration of U.S. refugee admissions criteria, with operational, diplomatic, and legal implications still unfolding.