Refugee admissions to the US have plummeted to historic lows during US President Donald Trump’s second term, marked by a radical shift in demographic priorities, according to a recent analysis.
The federal government has admitted just 10,258 refugees through the first 10 months of fiscal year 2026, a Pew Research Center report released on Monday showed. This represents a sharp decline from the 100,034 refugees admitted in 2024. The Trump administration has set the current fiscal year’s ceiling at 17,500, the lowest level recorded since at least the beginning of the century.
A primary driver of this change is a 2025 executive order that redirected US priority toward white South African Afrikaners. This group now accounts for almost all US refugee admissions this year, despite never appearing among the top origin groups previously. The administration justified the move by citing alleged “government-sponsored race-based discrimination” and farm seizures in South Africa, which the African nation denies.
Shift in origin countries
The prioritization of Afrikaners has effectively eliminated traditional refugee cohorts. While citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo were the largest share of admitted refugees from 2016 to 2024, the US has admitted zero individuals from that nation so far this fiscal year. Similarly, only three refugees from Afghanistan have been admitted, a country that was consistently among the top five origin groups for years.
The US has also lost its position as a global leader in resettlement. In 2025, the US resettled roughly 11,500 refugees, falling behind Canada, which led the world with nearly 39,000.
Public and political divide
Public opinion remains deeply divided along partisan lines. A November survey found that while 36% of US adults believe taking in those escaping violence is extremely important, Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to favor admissions. An additional 39% say it is “somewhat important.”
Arguing against anti-immigrant narratives, Democrats also say that immigrants make large contributions to the US economy, support the country’s aging population, and take jobs many other Americans are unwilling to do.
US President Donald Trump has made the restriction of immigration and refugee flows a cornerstone of his second-term domestic agenda. In public speeches, Trump has said he would prefer for the US to take in immigrants from what he called “nice countries, you know like Denmark, Switzerland? … How about Norway?” while speaking disparagingly of other countries.
