The Trump administration is spending over $100 million to tackle what they call an ’emergency’ of persecution against white South Africans in South Africa.
This claim is a racist conspiracy theory pushed by far-right figures like Elon Musk, who has repeatedly spread false claims about white South Africans facing persecution or being killed because of their race. Experts and fact-checkers have repeatedly debunked this, and there is no evidence supporting it.
Based on data from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, last month all 599 refugees the administration admitted into the U.S. were white South Africans.
According to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, since October 1, 2025, the U.S. has taken in 6,668 refugees. 6,665 of them were white South Africans. The remaining three refugees came from Afghanistan. No other refugees were accepted.
That’s 99.9% of refugees from just one country. Under Trump, the overall refugee cap was slashed to 7,500 per year, the lowest in U.S. history. During the Biden administration, the annual limit was 125,000.
In May, Trump increased the white South African cap from 10,000 to 17,500, while refugees from countries facing massive crises like Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, Haiti, and others are being shut out.