Trump considers cutting US refugee intake to 7,500, focusing on white
South Africans, officials say
[October 07, 2025]
By MATTHEW LEE, LISA MASCARO and CHRIS MEGERIAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is considering admitting far
fewer refugees into the U.S. this year — as few as 7,500, and mostly
white South Africans, officials say — a dramatic new low as the
administration is conducting sweeping immigration raids as part of its
mass deportation agenda.
The new figures have not been finalized by the Trump administration or
officially transmitted in a notification to Congress as required by last
week's deadline, according to two people familiar with the situation who
were granted anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss it with
the media.
The decreased numbers of refugees would be a stark departure from the
higher figures traditionally allowed into the U.S. — the Biden
administration last year set a target of 125,000 refugee admissions. And
advocates warn it would essentially bump from the line those who have
already been vetted and are awaiting approvals. It all comes as the
Department of Homeland Security is engaged in a crackdown on immigrants
in American cities, including this past weekend in Chicago, and
recruiting officers with a social media campaign to “recapture our
national identity.”
“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,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah,
president and CEO of the resettlement organization, Global Refuge.
“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.
Trump suspended the refugee program in January
The refugee program -- which once had widespread bipartisan support --
was suspended on Trump’s first day in office.
Since then only a trickle of refugees have been admitted to the country,
either as part of an ongoing court case seeking to resume the program or
as part of a new refugee program for Afrikaners that Trump announced in
February. The administration says the white South African farmers face
discrimination and violence at home, which the country’s government
strongly denies.
The White House said the refugee cap is not final until the
administration consults with Congress, according to an official granted
anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss the situation.
The official and one of the other people said due to the federal
government shutdown, no refugees will be admitted during the new fiscal
year, which began Oct. 1, until the government is reopened, although
with the program suspended, few are being let in as is.
Some 128,000 refugees have currently been approved for resettlement in
the United States and are now stuck in limbo, said Mark Hetfield,
president of HIAS, the Jewish refugee resettlement agency. In addition,
14,000 Jews, Christians and other religious minorities in Iran have long
been registered with the refugee program.
“How can a president who claims to stand for religious and American
values and who claims to support legal and orderly migration turn his
back on so many refugees who followed the rules, while moving white
South Africans to the front of the line?” he said.
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Afrikaner refugees from South Africa arrive, May 12, 2025, at Dulles
International Airport in Dulles, Va. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree
Nikhinson, File)
The expected admissions are lower than advocates hoped
The 7,500 number is a dramatic reduction in the already historically low
refugee admission caps that Trump put forward during his first term and
also well below what refugee advocates had feared would be the target
for the coming fiscal year.
In early- to mid-September, organizations that assist refugees began
sounding the alarm that the administration was considering a cap of
roughly 30,000, with most of those spots reserved for white South
Africans.
Administration officials said at the time that the numbers were in flux
and would require White House sign off, but gave no indication that the
total number could be slashed by more than 20,000 from what the
advocates had feared.
As the government shutdown loomed last week, these officials began to
say that no final determination would be made until Congress had been
consulted and that that was unlikely until after the shutdown ended.
One senior U.S. official said Saturday such consultation is still
required and would not likely occur until the government goes back to
work.
But the official also noted that 7,500 admissions in the current fiscal
year would be “significantly more” than had been allowed in since Trump
took office for the second time in January.
Other refugees may be left in limbo
Certain lawmakers in Congress have been pressing the White House for the
official notification, which was required by law by the Sept. 30
deadline.
The ranking Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary committees that
handle immigration matters said the Trump administration is “in open
defiance of the law."
Refugees are being left in “limbo,” wrote Sen. Richard Durbin of
Illinois, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and other top Democrats on the
Judiciary panels in a letter last week. “The consequences are dire."
They said thousands of people are facing persecution abroad “who have
already passed the rigorous vetting requirements" are being left to
languish in refugee while Trump is “carving out exceptions for white
South African farmers, allowing Afrikaners to skip the line.”
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Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego and Rebecca Santana in
Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
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