America's refugee resettlement programme dates to the post-war era and admits foreigners who can show a credible fear of persecution in their home country. At the start of 2025 some 130,000 people were in the pipeline.
Donald Trump closed the programme to all applicants except Afrikaners (white South Africans who speak a language related to Dutch) and other minorities from South Africa. Of roughly 6,000 refugees admitted between October 2025 and May 2026, nearly all were white South Africans. On May 26th 2026 Trump raised the Afrikaner quota for the fiscal year by 10,000, to 17,500; South Africa's Afrikaner population is roughly 3m. Trump has called the situation a "genocide", which it is not, but he has also claimed "government-sponsored race-based discrimination" against whites in South Africa, which is more complicated. Afrikaner-advocacy groups such as AfriForum (led by Kallie Kriel) had not been seeking refugee status during their American media tour in Trump's first term; they had hoped that international pressure would ease Pretoria's affirmative-action policies. Their activists now find the refugee narrative undermines their position.
Trump axed cash handouts, food stamps and health-care subsidies for refugees just as the Afrikaners began arriving.
There is an old time toast which is golden for its beauty. "When you ascend the hill of prosperity may you not meet a friend."