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01-11-2025
WASHINGTON/ BALTIMORE: The Trump administration is formally announcing a refugee admissions ceiling of just 7,500 people for Fiscal Year 2026, the lowest in US history while primarily using those limited slots for Afrikaners from South Africa.
The Presidential Determination, to be published Oct. 31 in the Federal Register, cites Executive Order 14204, which explicitly prioritizes Afrikaners for resettlement and references other executive orders that restrict refugee entry and narrow eligibility. Global Refuge, one of the nation’s largest refugee resettlement organizations, continued to express grave concern that the new framework represents a profound break from decades of bipartisan policy guided by humanitarian need, not ideology or identity.
“This decision doesn’t just lower the refugee admissions ceiling. It lowers our moral standing,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refuge. “For more than four decades, the US refugee program has been a lifeline for families fleeing war, persecution, and repression. At a time of crisis in countries ranging from Afghanistan to Venezuela to Sudan and beyond, concentrating the vast majority of admissions on one group undermines the program’s purpose as well as its credibility.”
The Presidential Determination marks a continuation of policies that have sharply curtailed refugee resettlement since January, when the administration first suspended admissions under Executive Order 14163. Despite ongoing litigation, tens of thousands of refugees who had already undergone exhaustive vetting by the US government remain stranded abroad. Many had sold their belongings, vacated housing, and quit jobs in anticipation of travel that was abruptly halted.
Even for those able to arrive, federal support has been significantly weakened. In recent months, the administration shortened the duration of cash and medical assistance for newly arrived refugees and, under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), eliminated access to key federal programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ending decades of guaranteed access to food and health coverage for lawfully-admitted refugees.
“Refugee families are ready to rebuild their lives and give back to the communities that welcome them,” Vignarajah said “but without a fair chance at protection and a consistent baseline of initial assistance, we risk creating a system that fails both those seeking refuge and the nation that promised it.”
Global Refuge emphasized that the FY26 ceiling diverges from the United States’ longstanding role as a global humanitarian leader and violates both the spirit of the Refugee Act of 1980 and the ancient moral calling shared across religious traditions to welcome the stranger and protect those fleeing persecution.
“Offering refuge is an act of faith in people, in second chances, and in our shared humanity,” continued Vignarajah. “That faith has shaped America’s story for generations, and turning away from it now would be a betrayal of both our history and our hope.”
‘Downfall for a crown jewel’
In a post on the social media, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, noted that Trump’s declaration appeared to shift the definition of whom Washington considers to be a refugee.
“Trump’s new refugee determination appears to call for admitting refugees who wouldn’t meet the definition of refugee someone who faces persecution (not ‘discrimination’) on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion,” he wrote.
He added that, for decades, the US refugee program has admitted “people fleeing ethnic cleansing and other horrors”. (Int’l News Desk)
