Trump Reassigns All USCIS Anti-Fraud Officers to Screen South African Refugees and Voters

• The Trump administration redirected every officer in a key USCIS anti-fraud unit to two new priority tasks
• South African refugee screening and investigations into alleged noncitizen voters are now the unit's sole focus
• Internal correspondence obtained by The Guardian revealed that the reassignment has left the agency without staff for asylum officer training

UNITED STATES — Every immigration officer attached to a critical anti-fraud unit within US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been reassigned full-time to screen South African refugees and investigate alleged unlawful voters, according to internal correspondence reported by The Guardian.

According to The Guardian, the unit in question, the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS), is responsible for identifying fraud and addressing national security risks across immigration and asylum applications. Its complete redeployment to two specific government priorities has left USCIS unable to assign staff to train asylum officers for the foreseeable future.

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South African refugee screening takes centre stage

The FDNS reassignment reflects the Trump administration's broader immigration posture, which has dramatically reduced general refugee admissions while fast-tracking entry for white South Africans, primarily Afrikaners. This was after Trump signed an executive order granting them refugee status.

The administration has repeatedly cited claims of "white genocide" and racially motivated violence targeting this group — claims that the South African government has publicly rejected as baseless. State Department figures show that of the more than 10,000 refugees admitted to the United States between October 2025 and July 2026, virtually all originated from South Africa.

Noncitizen voter investigations draw scrutiny

The second priority involves investigating noncitizens suspected of having registered or voted in US elections. The directive follows an executive order that granted state election officials access to USCIS databases for this purpose. Experts have challenged the premise of the initiative. A February 2026 review by the Center for Election Innovation and Research found that confirmed instances of noncitizens voting in US federal elections are exceptionally rare.

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Asylum processing left in limbo

Internal messages confirm that FDNS officers have been pulled from their asylum officer training responsibilities, though it remains unclear whether standard anti-fraud checks on pending general asylum applications have been suspended or simply slowed. Broader asylum processing had already largely ground to a halt under existing administration policies before this latest development.

Trump administration increases Afrikaner refugee admission

In a related article, Briefly News reported on the Trump administration's proposal to admit more Afrikaners as refugees, amid a backdrop of rising tensions in South Africa. This move comes in light of claims regarding the safety risks faced by the Afrikaner community, drawing sharp criticism from both local and international observers.

Source: Briefly News