Trump administration to welcome up to 17,500 more White South Africans as refugees

September 22, 2026 / 3:35 PM EDT / CBS News

The Trump administration is planning to welcome up to 17,500 additional White Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees over the next 12 months, according to a notice sent to Congress on Tuesday and obtained by CBS News.

The State Department informed congressional officials that the Trump administration is planning to allocate 17,500 refugee spots for fiscal year 2027, and that they will "primarily" go to Afrikaners, who President Trump has claimed are being oppressed for being White. Fiscal year 2027 starts in October.

While the second Trump administration has effectively shut down the U.S. refugee resettlement program for most people fleeing persecution and violence around the world, it has made an exemption for Afrikaners, resettling thousands of them over the past year and a half.

Trump administration officials have portrayed Afrikaners as victims of racial oppression in post-apartheid South Africa. The South African government has consistently denied persecuting the ethnic minority, made up of descendants of European settlers, mostly from the Netherlands.

"Afrikaners face the seizure of agricultural property without compensation; government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business; and hateful rhetoric fueling disproportionate violence against…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/moneywatch/