The US is aiming to process 4,500 refugee applications from white South Africans each month, a pace that would far exceed President Donald Trump’s stated global refugee cap, according to a State Department document reviewed by Reuters.
The contracting document reveals plans to install trailers on US embassy property in Pretoria to support processing efforts. It comes just days after the arrival in Pretoria of the new US ambassador to South Africa, the conservative media figure Leo Brent Bozell. The Trump administration launched the program to admit Afrikaners as refugees in early 2025, citing claims of violent persecution and land seizures targeting the community after apartheid. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has pushed back strongly against such claims, culminating in a clash with Trump in the Oval Office last May. Critics argue the White House policy amounts to selective immigration that bypasses refugees fleeing far more acute humanitarian crises elsewhere.