Trump Admin Sets Refugee Admissions Cap to Record Low

The new admissions goal represents a major drop from the previous goal of 125,000 set by the Biden administration.

Published: 10/30/2025, 5:37:02 PM EDT

Trump Admin Sets Refugee Admissions Cap to Record Low — Afrikaner refugees from South Africa holding American flags arrive at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., on May 12, 2025. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

The Trump administration will significantly cap the number of refugees admitted to the United States every year to 7,500, according to a published notice by the Federal Register on Thursday, and most of them will be white South Africans.

"The admissions of up to 7,500 refugees to the United States during Fiscal Year 2026 is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest," the Presidential Determination notice states.

The new admissions goal represents a major drop from the previous goal of 125,000 set by the Biden administration.

It's also a historic low since the creation of the refugee program in 1980.

The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) condemned the decision.

The new restrictions mean that resettlement would be reserved primarily for Afrikaners, excluding at-risk refugees who have been waiting for years, including more than 12,000 who were already approved and scheduled for travel before President Donald Trump took office, according to IRAP.

“This determination makes it painfully clear that the Trump administration values politics over protection," IRAP President Sharif Aly said in a statement. "By privileging Afrikaners while continuing to ban thousands of refugees who have already been vetted and approved, the administration is once again politicizing a humanitarian program. It is egregious to exclude refugees who completed years of rigorous security checks and are currently stuck in dangerous and precarious situations."

Trump suspended the refugee program on his first day in office.

Since then, only a limited number of refugees have been allowed into United States. Those refugees were part of ongoing legal cases seeking to resume the program.

Earlier this year, Trump welcomed 59 white South Africans as part of a refugee program that he announced in February, explaining he accepted the group due to the "genocide" taking place in post-apartheid South Africa.

Trump has long argued that white South African farmers face discrimination and violence in their home country.

In a televised meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May, Trump confronted him and accused the leader of allowing the systematic killing of white farmers.

The South African government has vehemently denied the accusation.

Advocates warn the change in admissions would essentially bump from the line those refugees who have already been vetted and are awaiting approvals.

“This would be a monumental shift in U.S. refugee policy, not just in terms of reducing admissions, but also in terms of disproportionately privileging one group over every other,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the resettlement organization, Global Refuge, said in a statement.

“Our concern is that this could turn what has long been a globally responsive humanitarian system into one that overwhelmingly favors a single group,” Vignarajah said.

Thursday's notice aligns with Trump's executive order in February targeting the Republic of South Africa, which states that the United States will not support its government as long as it engages in "egregious activities."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.