Afrikaner refugees from South Africa holding American flags arrive at Dulles International Airport in Dulles. File
| Photo Credit: AP
The Trump administration is restricting the number of refugees it admits into the country to 7,500 and they will mostly be white South Africans, a dramatic drop after the U.S. previously allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution from around the world.
The administration published the news Thursday (October 30, 2025) in a notice on the Federal Registry.
No reason was given for the numbers, which are a dramatic decrease from last year’s ceiling set under the Biden administration of 125,000. The Associated Press previously reported that the administration was considering admitting as few as 7,500 refugees and mostly white South Africans.
Also read: Trump administration reviewing all 55 million people with U.S. visas for potential deportable violations
The memo said only that the admission of the 7,500 refugees during 2026 fiscal year was “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”
Published – October 30, 2025 10:14 pm IST
