WASHINGTON/JOHANNESBURG — The Trump administration is aiming to process as many as 4,500 refugee applications per month from white South Africans, according to a U.S. contracting document reviewed by Reuters, even as refugee admissions from most other parts of the world have been sharply curtailed. The target far exceeds President Donald Trump’s stated annual refugee ceiling of 7,500 for fiscal 2026, underscoring how heavily the program is being weighted toward one group.
The effort centers on Afrikaners, the white South African minority descended mainly from Dutch and French settlers. The Trump administration argues they face racial discrimination and has framed the resettlement program as a humanitarian response. In May 2025, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the United States was sending “a clear message” that it rejects what he called persecution based on race in South Africa and was welcoming vetted applicants to a “new future” in America.
South Africa’s government rejects that characterization. Pretoria has repeatedly said white South Africans are not being persecuted, and has described Washington’s refugee rationale as politically distorted. In a statement last year, South Africa said it had raised concerns with the United States through diplomatic channels after reports that the U.S. had begun processing alleged refugees from the country.
The scale of interest has been large. The South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S. said more than 67,000 people expressed interest in relocating under the program, though that figure reflects expressions of interest rather than approved refugee cases. Reuters reported that as of January 2026, only about 2,000 white South Africans had actually been admitted, with administrative delays and a temporary pause in refugee travel slowing the rollout.
The policy has drawn criticism because it comes while refugee admissions from other regions have been cut back dramatically. AP reported in October that the administration’s 7,500-person refugee cap was the lowest in the history of the modern U.S. refugee program and that most available slots were expected to go to white South Africans.
Reuters also reported that the State Department is seeking to build a secure refugee processing site on the U.S. embassy compound in Pretoria after earlier operations in Johannesburg were disrupted, highlighting how central the South Africa program has become to the administration’s refugee agenda.
