Trump Administration Targets Increased Refugee Admissions for Afrikaners

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES— The Trump administration has proposed that it admit more Afrikaners as refugees through its refugee admission programme. The number of Afrikaners the administration is targeting has increased dramatically in favour of the Afrikaners over other refugees.

According to CNN, the Trump administration wants to increase the number of refugee admissions to 17,500 for the 2026 fiscal year. An emergency determination was sent to Congress in which the administration quoted remarks made by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The report alleged that hostility to Afrikaners heightened the risks to their safety and added that the revised ceiling was justified by the humanitarian concerns raised in South Africa.

In February, the administration said it would process 4,500 refugee applications from Afrikaners despite halting the refugee program for applicants from other global regions. It stated that not admitting more Afrikaner refugees would be acting against the directives of President Donald Trump, a staunch critic of the South African government. Trump has continually accused the South African government of targeting Afrikaners, persecuting them, seizing their lands and killing them in a genocide that the government has denied and slammed.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has also criticised the refugee programme. In a statement released on 31 October 2025, the department said that the claim of a white genocide was unsupported by reliable evidence. DIRCO said that the programme was concerning as it rested on a factually inaccurate premise. The department also praised an open letter from members of the Afrikaner community who distanced themselves from the allegations of a white genocide.

Source: Briefly News