WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration is proposing to raise the U.S. refugee cap from 7,500 to 17,500 to admit thousands of additional White Afrikaners from South Africa before the end of the fiscal year, according to a State Department plan sent to Congress. The plan would allocate the 10,000 additional slots to Afrikaners at a cost of around $100 million.

The State Department said there is an emergency refugee situation warranting additional admissions of Afrikaners, an ethnic minority descended from European settlers, mostly from the Netherlands. The administration has effectively closed the U.S. refugee program for most other nationalities, arguing that Afrikaners are victims of racial oppression for being White.

The plan argued that Afrikaners have faced escalating hostility, citing critical statements by politicians and a December raid by South African authorities on a U.S. refugee processing center. The U.S. condemned the raid. South African officials said they had arrested Kenyans who were working at the center illegally.

The South African government has denied persecuting Afrikaners. President Donald Trump has alleged that Afrikaners are facing a "genocide." In an Oval Office meeting last year, Trump showed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa a video that spotlighted murders of farmers in South Africa.

Trump has pointed to a South African law that could allow the government to seize land in some circumstances when it is deemed to be in the public interest. The law does not mention the races of affected landowners. White South Africans own a disproportionate share of the country's land. Afrikaners interviewed on the program "60 Minutes" rejected the notion that White people are facing a "genocide" and said farm murders are part of a broader crime problem in South Africa that affects members of all races.

The U.S. resettled 6,069 refugees between October 2025 and the end of last month, using most of the 7,500 spots allocated by Trump last year. State Department figures show that 6,066, or 99%, of the refugees were from South Africa, and the other three were from Afghanistan.

The plan shared with Congress needs formal approval by the president before taking effect. Historically, the consultation with Congress required by federal law has been a formality.