South Africans dominate US refugee arrivals amid policy shift

From October 2025 to March 2026, nearly all refugees admitted to the United States were South Africans, with 4,496 arrivals, while only three came from Afghanistan.

The surge followed a Trump administration policy prioritizing Afrikaners, a white South African minority, amid claims of racial persecution that have been rejected, straining US–South Africa relations and raising questions about refugee criteria.