A newly disclosed U.S. State Department document reveals plans to process up to 4,500 refugee applications per month from white South Africans — a figure that would significantly exceed President Donald Trump’s publicly stated global refugee cap for fiscal year 2026. The January 27 contracting document also details preparations underway at the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, including the installation of temporary processing facilities, signaling an accelerated effort to expand admissions from South Africa even as refugee entries from other regions remain sharply restricted.
This story is written and edited by Global South World
The U.S. aims to process 4,500 refugee applications from white South Africans per month, far above President Donald Trump’s stated refugee program cap, and is installing trailers on embassy property in Pretoria to support the effort, a U.S. contracting document said.
The new target, contained in a previously unreported document from the U.S. State Department dated January 27, signals a push to ramp up admissions from South Africa, while refugee applications from other areas have been severely curtailed.
Trump has said the U.S. would only admit 7,500 total refugees from around the world in fiscal year 2026, while a much higher cap of 40,000 to 60,000 was discussed internally last year. Only 2,000 white South Africans had entered the U.S. as refugees as of January 31 under a program launched in May 2025, although the pace has picked up in recent months.
The ambitious target could also face administrative delays in Washington, which in recent weeks have halted all refugee travel to the U.S., including from South Africa, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the contracting document but said Trump had publicly explained the reason for the program for white South Africans.
“The U.S. position on this humanitarian initiative is unchanged,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. The White House referred questions to the State Department.
The South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S. said last year that more than 67,000 people had expressed interest in relocating.
Trump ordered a halt to refugee admissions into the U.S. after taking office in 2025 as part of his crackdown on legal and illegal immigration. But weeks later, he launched an effort to bring in white South Africans of Afrikaner ethnicity as refugees, saying they had been violently persecuted in the majority-Black country. South Africa’s government has rejected that claim, while some refugee advocates have criticized the Trump policy.
U.S. SEES URGENT NEED FOR REFUGEE PROCESSING SITE
The contracting document, posted to a U.S. government database on Wednesday, explains the rationale for awarding the contract for the trailers without a competitive bidding process, stressing an urgent need for a secure site.
This article was originally published by Global South World and is republished here with permission. View the original article.
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