Trump administration sets lowest-ever cap on refugee admissions to U.S. : NPR

In this photograph taken on September 2, 2025, Shayma, a young Afghan refugee, is pictured during an interview with AFP at her residence in Islamabad. Her family was scheduled to fly to the United States in February, before the Trump administration suspended most refugee admissions.

Farooq Naeem/AFP via Getty Images

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Farooq Naeem/AFP via Getty Images

The Trump administration is slashing the number of refugees admitted to the United States, capping it at 7,500 for the current fiscal year. This is the lowest level since the creation of the US refugee program in 1980.

The United States wants to admit primarily Afrikaners from South Africa, according to a notice published Thursday in the Federal Register, as well as “other victims of unlawful or unjust discrimination in their respective countries of origin.”

The administration has largely suspended the U.S. refugee resettlement program so far this year, with the exception of a streamlined resettlement process for white South Africans. Several hundred members of the group have been resettled across the United States since March.

In response, some resettlement groups quickly expressed concern about the lack of resources and limits on admitting people from other countries. Others have closed their services, changing the landscape of the refugee resettlement process.

Thursday’s notice, which covers the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, provides no reason for the cap drop, only mentioning the Trump administration’s previous refugee policies, including the blanket suspension of admissions and the ban on admissions from countries considered threats to the security and well-being of the United States.

Christopher Landau, deputy secretary of state, previously told reporters that criteria for welcoming refugees included ensuring they did not pose a national security problem and could be easily assimilated.

“This decision not only lowers the ceiling for refugee admissions. It lowers our moral standing,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Refuge, said in a statement. “At this time of crisis in countries from Afghanistan to Venezuela to Sudan and beyond, concentrating the vast majority of admissions on a single group undermines the program’s purpose and credibility.”

The Biden administration had set the refugee cap at 125,000 for the 2025 fiscal year.

Push for higher ceilings

Refugee rights advocates spent the year pushing for a broader range of admissions beyond Afrikaners, including the admission of people from other countries who had already been approved to arrive in the United States.

“It is egregious to exclude refugees who have gone through years of rigorous security screening and are now stuck in dangerous and precarious situations,” said Sharif Aly, president of the International Refugee Assistance Project. He said the number of people with confirmed plans to travel to the United States is higher than the new refugee cap.

The admission of Afrikaners to the United States has attracted the attention of resettlement agencies in the United States, which have faced steep budget, resource and staff cuts since President Trump took office.

Among his first executive actions, Trump suspended the refugee resettlement program. Various agencies, including the State Department, have also suspended funding for essential services for other refugees, such as the housing, employment and school assistance that Afrikaners are set to receive.

The pause also threw refugee resettlement agencies into turmoil, as refugees already allowed to arrive in the United States were informed that their flights had been canceled.

Among those left in limbo were Afghans who worked with the U.S. military, a move criticized by some Republicans. A lower court judge had ordered the government to at least resume the refugee program for those who had already been allowed to travel, but an appeals court ruled in favor of the administration.

The notice published in the Federal Register makes no mention of the Afghans, despite past promises to help those who supported the United States in America’s longest war.