US accepts – New State Department data shows the U.S. accepted 599 refugees in May—all of them white South Africans—continuing a streak that now spans six straight months. Since Oct. 1, 2025, 6,668 refugees have been admitted, with 6,665 identified as white South Africans
For the sixth consecutive month, the U.S. has admitted refugees who share the same country of origin and race—one group, again and again—according to data from the State Department.
In May, every one of the 599 refugees the United States admitted was a white South African, the State Department’s Bureau of Population said in figures released Friday. The same pattern holds across the broader record: every other refugee admitted this year has also been white South African.
Since Oct. 1, 2025, the U.S. has accepted 6,668 refugees. Of those, 6,665 were white South Africans. Three were admitted last November from Afghanistan. No other refugees were admitted.
The figures are backed by the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, a federal public-private interagency collaboration program that handles refugee resettlement.
The concentration is happening as the Trump administration pushes to sharply reduce the overall number of refugees admitted per year. In October. the administration announced it would cut the annual refugee admissions ceiling to 7. 500—“practically all of whom will be white. ” according to the administration’s own framing.
The shift marks a sharp break with recent U.S. practice. In fiscal years 2022-2024, the U.S. accepted refugees in far larger numbers. Under Biden, the annual limit was 125,000, a figure described in the same reporting as keeping with longstanding tradition.
A presidential memo from September laid out how the administration intended to structure the program. It said the refugees accepted “shall primarily be among Afrikaners from South Africa” and “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.”
Afrikaners are a South African ethnic group descended primarily from European settlers. The memo’s stated justification draws on a far-right conspiracy theory about alleged “genocide” against white people. a narrative that has circulated online and has been promoted by figures on the extreme right. including Elon Musk.
By May, the administration’s approach had expanded even further. That month, the U.S. increased the number of white South Africans it planned to admit by 10. 000. bringing the total number it planned to accept to 17. 500. The justification offered was that “unforeseen developments in South Africa created an emergency refugee situation.”.
The cited emergency included claims about a South African immigration crackdown. South African immigration officials raided a U.S. refugee processing center in the country, arresting seven Kenyan nationals whom they alleged were working at the facility illegally.
South Africa’s government, for its part, contested the underlying story. A spokesperson for South Africa’s foreign ministry told the New York Times that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being “refugees” is “entirely politically motivated” and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy.
The administration’s strategy also drew criticism back in Washington. As previously reported by the outlet’s colleague, the White House cut off aid to South Africa based on a “specious claim” about discrimination against white South Africans.
Cost estimates for the expanded admissions plan have been similarly stark. The State Department said the estimated cost of resettling the additional 10,000 Afrikaner refugees would be $100 million.
The May admissions numbers—599 refugees. all white South Africans—arrive as a visible tally of how policy choices are translating into lived outcomes. And for people waiting in the global pipeline, the message in the data is difficult to miss: the U.S. is directing its refugee pathway toward one group, while largely excluding everyone else.
refugees United States State Department Bureau of Population U.S. Refugee Admissions Program Afrikaners South Africa Trump administration refugee admissions cap immigration South Africa foreign ministry Elon Musk