As the White House Plans to Increase the Refugee Admissions Goal, Refugee Council USA Denounces Trump Administration’s Discriminatory Approach Toward At-Risk Refugees

Washington, DC – Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) is highly critical of the Trump administration’s plans to revise the Fiscal Year 2026 refugee admissions goal to 17,500, an increase of 10,000, without any provision for broadening the range of populations of concern to be admitted to the United States. The administration’s announced increase is reserved entirely for the resettlement of Afrikaners from South Africa. Already in the current fiscal year, Afrikaners represent 95% of the roughly 6,000 individuals resettled into the United States under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Yet more than 120,000 refugees – representing diverse nationalities, displacement crises, and faiths – had already been approved for resettlement in the United States in January 2025 and remain stranded overseas by the Trump administration’s general ban on refugee admissions under EO 14163.

Today, the Trump administration purportedly “consults” with Congress, a legally-required step mandated by the Refugee Act of 1980. But once again, as at the outset of the fiscal year last fall, the consultations themselves were perfunctory and were not conducted, as the law requires, by a cabinet-level official. The President also failed to issue a timely report to Congress containing legally-required information. Instead, the four-paragraph document that served as the “report to Congress” focuses exclusively on Afrikaner resettlement from South Africa and explicitly leaves in place the indefinite and unlawful refugee and expanded travel bans, in open disregard for the nondiscriminatory statutory framework for resettling refugees established by Congress. RCUSA calls for a full resumption of refugee processing and admissions, accompanied by a robust refugee admissions goal, that reflects global needs and protects people whose lives are at direct risk.

“The Trump administration has corrupted the U.S. resettlement program for a harmful ideological agenda that violates our moral call to welcome and our legal obligations under U.S. law. A resettlement program that admits only one population at the exclusion of tens of thousands refugees at risk around the world does not constitute meaningful refugee protection. The United States is abandoning Burmese, Rohingya, and Sudanese families fleeing brutal regimes and war zones, Congolese and Eritrean survivors of rape and ethnic violence, Afghan allies promised safety after risking their lives alongside U.S. forces, and countless others, including families and loved ones waiting for reunification. Why is this administration intending to resettle only Afrikaners? That is the question every member of Congress should be asking – and demanding an answer – from the Trump administration. Refugee law is not a plaything for the administration to ignore as it pleases. The American people deserve better.”

RCUSA’s previous statement on the FY 2026 refugee admissions goal and the administration’s legally-flawed congressional consultations is available here.

Media Contact: Mariam Sayeed, msayeed@rcusa.org  

RCUSA is a diverse coalition advocating for just and humane laws and policies, and the promotion of dialogue and communication among government, civil society, and those who need protection and welcome. Individual RCUSA members do not all address all refugee-related issues, nor do all individual members approach common refugee-related issues identically.

###