98 Percent of Trump’s Refugee Admissions Have Been White South Africans

The Trump administration is blocking admissions for nearly every type of refugee — except for white South Africans, who make up nearly all of those admitted under President Donald Trump’s second term so far, data shows.

According to State Department data compiled by economist Steve Rattner, white South Africans make up 98 percent of refugee admissions between February 2025 and July 2026. Of 10,764 refugees admitted in that time, 10,597 originated from South Africa, while only 167 were from other countries.

Most of those from other countries were approved prior to Trump’s executive order last year to prioritize admissions of Afrikaners, per Rattner. Trump and his allies falsely claim the group is being subject to persecution and “white genocide,” which has been repeatedly debunked by experts. In fact, Afrikaners are largely faring fine in the country, owning the vast majority of land in South Africa despite making up only roughly 7 percent of the population.

The State Department’s raw data is even more stark. According to the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, only five refugees out of 16,292 total arrived from Afghanistan, while South Africans made up the remainder in fiscal year 2026, which ranges from October 2025 to September 2026.

Meanwhile, Trump is barring admissions from nearly every other country. Trump capped refugee admissions for fiscal year 2026 at 17,500, near record lows that were previously set during his first term.

By contrast, as Rattner noted, 100,034 refugees were admitted in fiscal year 2024 under President Joe Biden. Roughly a third were from Africa, while 30 percent were from the Near East or South Asia, and another 25 percent were from Latin America or the Caribbean.

The Trump administration is poised to continue this openly white supremacist policy next year. The administration notified Congress last month that it is intending to cap refugee admissions to 17,500 once again in 2027, limited to mostly white South Africans. The notification says that white South Africans are facing land seizures and persecution, while noting that they would be likely to assimilate in the U.S.

The policy comes as the Trump administration has openly embraced racist rhetoric and carried out a mass deportation campaign in which immigration agents are racially profiling their targets. Those originating from Latin American countries have been targeted the most with deportation orders in fiscal year 2026.

Last month, the White House bragged in a post on X that it had cut legal immigration and refugee admissions from majority-Muslim countries by 96 percent between December 2024 and February 2026. Meanwhile, Republicans and Trump administration officials have openly and repeatedly spewed vile Islamophobic rhetoric, including against Somali Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), who the administration is reportedly attempting to denaturalize and deport.