CLEVELAND — The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), established in 1980, is facing its most extreme shift in decades.
The program was originally designed to offer safety to individuals fleeing war, persecution and political upheaval. The program’s priorities and numbers have completely altered under changing administrations.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the program has explicitly prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, nationality or membership in a particular social group.
Every year, the U.S. President consults with Congress to set a hard ceiling for annual refugee admissions.
The limits set by recent administrations show two entirely different approaches to global displacement.
In 2024, under President Joe Biden, the ceiling was 125,000. Under President Donald Trump, the ceiling for the 2026 fiscal year is 17,500.
Beyond the dropping numbers, the demographic makeup of incoming refugees has undergone an unprecedented change. In 2026, almost all refugees entering the United States originate from just one nation: South Africa.
In Jan. 2025, Trump suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program stating, “The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans…”
This means:
- All standard refugee arrivals from around the world through (USRAP) were blocked.
- Federal agencies paused decision-making on open refugee cases and stopped accepting new applications.
- Scheduled flights and travel arrangements for individuals who had already been approved to resettle in the U.S. were abruptly canceled, leaving thousands in legal limbo.
“Under the refugee resettlement program, the president has a lot of authority to dictate who can come into the country,” said Kent State University Professor of Political Science & Public Administration Daniel Chand
In Feb. 2025, Trump signed an executive order specifically prioritizing Afrikaners through the same suspended U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. This created an exception and cited race-based discrimination as a reason. Afrikaners are South Africans descended from Dutch, German and French colonial settlers.
Experts like Daniel Chand, a professor of political science and public administration at Kent State University, note that prioritizing this specific group over all others is entirely unprecedented in modern U.S. immigration history.
A South African couple, speaking under the pseudonyms Sarah and John Baxter to protect their family back home from potential retaliation, shared their reality.
“I’m white, and I feared for my life every single day,” said the couple.
The couple recalls growing up with a lot of freedom in a safe environment. However, once they hit their teenage years, they said that conditions slowly and gradually deteriorated.
That persistent fear eventually drove them to leave South Africa entirely, finding refuge through the newly prioritized pipeline.
The couple applied for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in February. They were accepted and arrived in Cleveland in September.
The impact of the president’s changes is extremely noticeable in the State Department’s report.
From Oct. 2024 through 202538,102 refugees came into the U.S. from over 50 countries.
Including:
• Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan
• Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi
• Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Colombia, Congo, Cuba
• Democratic Republic of the Congo (Dem.Rep.Congo)
• Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia
• Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana
• Haiti, Honduras
• Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast
• Jamaica
• Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan
• Latvia, Liberia, Libya
• Mali, Moldova
• Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway
• Pakistan, Palestine, Peru
• Republic of South Sudan, Russia, Rwanda
• Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria
• The Gambia, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey
• Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
• Venezuela, Vietnam
• Yemen
• Zimbabwe
Oct. 2025 through the present, 16,292 refugees have entered the country, and all but five are from South Africa.
Ohio specifically shows refugees from 30 countries came here from Oct. 2024 through 2025, with 12 from South Africa.
This year, all 623 refugees who resettled in Ohio are from South Africa.
“In Akron, there’s a lot of people from, Bhutan, a lot of people from the Congo who set up businesses and who are keeping our public schools very vibrant and that’s a good thing, and they’re not coming anymore,” said Lynn Tramonte is the Executive Director of The Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
“This policy is what it is. It is a racist retirement policy for South Africans.”
Lynn Tramonte is the Executive Director of The Ohio Immigrant Alliance, a statewide immigration advocacy organization. She said that Ohio has a long tradition of resettling refugees, and Trump’s policy stops the very people the program was meant for.
“They have family members who are in danger in their countries, and they’re not being brought here because now only white South Africans are coming, and I think that’s a problem,” said Tramonte.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied claims of race-based discrimination against Afrikaners.
However, the “Baxters” said they did experience discrimination as a minority.
“We’ve seen brutal things,” said the “Baxters. “We’ve come across brutal things. Us, ourselves, have not been attacked, but stuff happened, and that’s the reason we ended up running away.”
The “Baxters” said they don’t want this program to only help white South Africans, but they feel safe now and are grateful to have been chosen.
In September, President Trump issued the annual presidential determination on refugee admissions for 2027. It will again allow for the admittance of up to 17,500 refugees next year, with most of them being Afrikaners from South Africa.
Source: spectrumnews1.com
