US President Donald Trump increased the refugee admissions ceiling by 10,000 for this year to allow more white South Africans to come into the country, a signed presidential determination reviewed by Reuters showed.
The document, dated May 21, said white South Africans of Afrikaner ethnicity face an emergency situation due to the ‘incitement of racially motivated violence’ by the government and political parties in the majority-Black country.
Trump, a Republican, froze refugee admissions from around the world when he took office in January 2025, but weeks later launched a programme exclusively aimed at bringing in white South Africans. The effort – which prioritised white refugees while shunning thousands of others from Africa, Asia and elsewhere – was part of a broader challenging of humanitarian norms around refugee protection.
The Trump administration has admitted only three non-South African refugees this fiscal year, government figures show.
South African foreign ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri, in response to a Reuters request for comment, rejected the assertion that European-descended Afrikaners face danger and discrimination.
“The assertion that white Afrikaners, in particular, endure systemic persecution is entirely without foundation,” Phiri told Reuters in a statement.
The White House document did not list specific examples of South Africa’s government allegedly inciting racial violence.
A State Department spokesperson declined to confirm the 10,000-person increase to the refugee cap but said the programme was a Trump priority and that the president would determine refugee levels.
Trump initially set the refugee ceiling at a record-low 7,500 for fiscal year 2026, which ends on September 30.
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