According to an announcement, the US government wants the limit to be set at 7,500 people in 2026. The figure is significantly lower than the last three years, when the ceiling has been 125,000 refugees per year.
The statement on the website of the government agency Federal Register states that the decision is "motivated by humanitarian concern or is in the national interest."
The announcement comes after Trump's decision this spring to pause the USRAP refugee program, to allow the country to "prioritize national security." Since then, white South Africans have been granted refugee status by the Trump administration, which accuses the South African government of racial discrimination. At the same time, the White House has put a stop to refugee arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, among others.
Most of those who will be granted refugee status next year will also be white South Africans, according to the AP news agency.
Trump accuses the country of discriminating against white Afrikaners – descendants of European colonialists in South Africa – and claims that the government in Pretoria is seizing land and allowing violent attacks on white farmers.
The South African government has denied the claims, saying that the land reform that Trump is believed to be referring to is not linked to ethnicity.
According to the independent think tank Migration Policy Institute, the refugee cap was between 70,000 and 91,000 between 1996 and 2016, when the Trump administration gradually lowered the cap to 18,000.
