Overview
- A Sept. 30 presidential directive lowers the annual refugee ceiling to 7,500, down from 125,000 under President Joe Biden.
- The order designates white South Africans (Buren/Afrikaner) as a priority for the limited slots and says officials will also consider other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination.
- The policy took effect on Oct. 1 and follows Trump’s January suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
- The South African government and independent experts reject claims that white South Africans face genocide or systematic persecution, and refugee advocates condemned the new focus.
- Reuters reported that 138 South Africans have already entered the United States through the pathway referenced in the directive.