Nearly All Recent Refugees to US Are From South Africa

The U.S. refugee admissions system has shifted dramatically in the current fiscal year, with nearly all arrivals now coming from a single country: South Africa.

Since October 2025, government figures show 4,499 refugees have been admitted. With the exception of just three Afghans, every one of them has come from South Africa. That marks a stark change from the final full year of the Biden administration, when about 125,000 refugees from 85 different countries were resettled in the United States, according to BBC reporting.

The change follows a major policy shift by President Trump Donald Trump, who froze most refugee admissions while creating a pathway specifically for Afrikaners, a white minority group in South Africa. He has described the group as facing persecution, a claim that South Africa South Africa and many others reject.

South African officials have dismissed allegations of a so-called “white genocide” as unfounded. Some Afrikaners themselves have also publicly pushed back against that narrative, including in an open letter cited in reporting, with critics calling the relocation program discriminatory. Public figures such as Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson have echoed claims of “white genocide,” according to The Conversation.

Diplomatic relations have grown tense as a result. South Africa’s ambassador to Washington was expelled after accusing President Trump of promoting supremacist ideas. Later, President Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa publicly clashed during a meeting in the Oval Office over the issue.

Resettlement numbers have also surged in recent months. The program began with 68 South Africans arriving in May 2025, but admissions increased sharply in early 2026, reaching 2,848 arrivals in February and March alone. Texas has become the primary destination state, hosting 543 of the new arrivals.

Meanwhile, a refugee resettlement organization in Washington state has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the current policy. As reported by the Seattle Times, the group argues that the program operates in a discriminatory way, favoring a population that is roughly 95% white while disadvantaging refugees who have waited years in the global resettlement system.