United States: Afrikaners account for almost all refugees admitted in 2026

Almost all of the more than 12,900 refugees admitted to the United States during the 2026 fiscal year are from South Africa, reports the Christian Science Monitor in an investigation published on September 30, 2026. These are almost exclusively Afrikaners, the white minority descended from Dutch settlers, who have been made an absolute priority by the Trump administration.

The contrast is striking compared to the previous period: under the presidency of Joe Biden, more than 100,000 refugees from 85 countries were welcomed in the 2024 fiscal year alone, the same media outlet recalls. For the next twelve months, 17,500 spots are planned, and the administration has announced that they will be "primarily" reserved for this group.

A historically low ceiling, then an exception

The mechanism was built in two stages. On October 30, 2025, the admissions ceiling for the 2026 fiscal year was set at 7,500 people, the lowest in the country's history, according to the resettlement organization Global Refuge. Then, on May 27, 2026, an emergency presidential decision opened up to 10,000 additional spots reserved for white South Africans, indicates the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP).

Meanwhile, files that have already been processed are sitting idle. When the U.S. resettlement program was suspended in January 2025, more than 120,000 refugees had received conditional approval and more than 12,000 already had plane tickets, according to the IRAP. Among the rejected candidates are Congolese, as well as Burmese, Iraqis, and Iranians, the Christian Science Monitor details.

"A system that only helps Afrikaners"

To justify this choice, a U.S. State Department spokesperson claims to be prioritizing Afrikaners who are allegedly fleeing racial discrimination encouraged by the South African state. Refugee advocacy organizations are challenging the approach without targeting the community in question: Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Refuge, told the Christian Science Monitor that she opposes "a system that only helps Afrikaners." Sharif Aly, president of the IRAP, sees it as an affront to the 120,000 refugees left in the administrative pipeline.

The Afrikaners who have arrived describe a modest settlement: Daan Nel, a former executive in the South African mining sector, works the night shift at a pipe factory in Oklahoma, the American media outlet reports. One of them even acknowledges that the danger faced by others may exceed his own.

The question posed to Africans and people of African descent is of a different nature: that of international protection which, in the world's leading power, is no longer being evaluated based on the risk incurred, but rather on the origin of the applicant.