The Afrikaner
Exception

On 20 January 2025 President Trump signed Executive Order 14163, suspending the US Refugee Admissions Program with effect from 27 January. On 7 February 2025 he signed Executive Order 14204, "Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa", which cut US aid to South Africa and directed agencies to prioritise the resettlement of Afrikaners.

The first 59 Afrikaners arrived at Dulles International Airport on a government-chartered flight on 12 May 2025, greeted by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Troy Edgar.

The refugee ceiling for the 2026 fiscal year was set at 7,500 in October 2025 — at the time the lowest in the programme's history — with Afrikaners the group named. It was later raised by 10,000, to 17,500.

State Department Refugee Processing Center data analysed by Pew Research show that from 1 October 2025 to 31 July 2026 the US admitted 10,258 refugees, of whom 10,255 were from South Africa. For comparison, it admitted 38,102 refugees in FY2025 and 100,034 in FY2024. An earlier version of this page gave a total of 6,069.

For the 2027 fiscal year, which began on 1 October 2026, a presidential determination signed on 25 September 2026 authorises up to 17,500 refugee admissions, "primarily" Afrikaners. The State Department's notice to Congress put the cost at about $500 million and said it anticipated that Afrikaners would "fully assimilate into the US in a manner that preserves taxpayer resources for US citizens."

The US government's stated grounds include "the seizure of agricultural property without compensation" and policies it says discriminate against Afrikaners. South Africa's government rejects the claim that Afrikaners face persecution. In his February 2025 State of the Nation Address, President Ramaphosa said South Africa "will not be bullied."

The two largest Afrikaner organisations said their members would not take up the offer. Solidarity's Dirk Hermann: "Our members work here, and want to stay here." AfriForum's Kallie Kriel: "We don't want to move elsewhere." A group of prominent Afrikaners published an open letter, "Not in Our Name", rejecting the portrayal of Afrikaners as persecuted.

On 12 May 2025 the Episcopal Church said it would end its nearly four-decade refugee-resettlement partnership with the US government rather than resettle Afrikaners. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe: "In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step."

For what the police and independent trackers record about farm attacks, see Farm Murders.

President Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Act on 23 January 2025. It allows the state to expropriate property in the public interest and permits nil compensation in specified circumstances. In August 2026 the Western Cape High Court, before Judge Vincent Saldanha, heard challenges by the DA, AfriForum, the Institute of Race Relations and the Vaderlandstigting: the DA argues the Act was not validly adopted by the NCOP and is irrational in parts; AfriForum and the IRR argue the nil-compensation provisions depart from section 25 of the Constitution. The President, the NCOP and the Speaker asked the court to dismiss the challenges. As at 13 October 2026 this site has found no report that judgment has been delivered.

South Africa deported 57,784 people in the 2025/26 financial year. Home Affairs told Parliament it had a backlog of 161,000 asylum appeals — 70,976 active cases and 90,024 in which the applicant's whereabouts are unknown. In July 2026 the department reported cutting the appeals backlog by nearly 19,000 cases.

On 9 October 2026 Home Affairs withdrew a directive, implemented on 28 September after a Constitutional Court ruling on barriers facing asylum seekers, that had sent large numbers of people to refugee reception offices. The department said its offices were "overwhelmed within a matter of days" and that serious threats to public safety had emerged; violence against foreign nationals had broken out in Soweto and Durban, with vehicles torched and foreign-owned shops looted.