Selective sanctuary: America’s ‘White South Africans Only’ refugee policy is wrong 

On the first day of his second term, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program.” That decades-long program, which historically enjoyed broad bipartisan support, provides a legal way for refugees fleeing persecution in other countries to be rigorously vetted and, if approved, resettled in the United States.  

The executive order, which remains in effect, amounts to an indefinite refugee ban, suspending the program “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.” Since then, the administration has allowed for exceptions to the ban, but almost exclusively for white South Africans. 

The Trump administration made its priorities clear a year ago, on Oct. 30, 2025, when it announced it would limit the number of refugees admitted annually to the U.S. to a historic low of 7,500, almost all of them white South Africans. Then, in May, the administration announced that it would admit an additional 10,000 white South Africans into the U.S. as refugees this year, while still blocking people from essentially all other countries from entering through the program.

According to data released by the U.S. Department of State in October, the U.S. accepted a total of 16,292 refugees in fiscal 2026. All but five of them are South Africans. 

Trump is required by law to issue a determination of the target on legal refugees before the start of each new federal fiscal year. On........

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