SILVER SPRING, Md. — HIAS is appalled by reports that the administration is once again planning on limiting the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program primarily to white South Africans. By setting an admissions ceiling of 17,500 white South Africans in the annual Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for FY 2027 (PD), the administration is stranding people fleeing persecution without the safety they’ve been promised after years of waiting.
“For more than four decades, America’s refugee program has provided a lifesaving pathway for people fleeing violence and persecution,” said Naomi Steinberg, HIAS Vice President, Refugee and Immigration Policy & Advocacy. “But again, this administration is diminishing and distorting this legacy in service of its political whims. That is why we will never stop speaking out for a return to a program that welcomes refugees from around the world who have been persecuted because of who they are and what they believe.”
More than 200,000 refugees are currently in the U.S. resettlement pipeline. Last year, the Trump administration took the unprecedented step of setting an admission ceiling of just 7,500 – a historic low in a program that has welcomed an average of 92,000 per year since its inception. Those slots were allocated almost exclusively to white South Africans. This number was later increased to 17,500, with the additional admissions again allocated to white South Africans. The proposed 2027 Presidential Determination will continue this approach, leaving refugees in true need of protection stranded in precarious situations around the world.
HIAS was founded more than 140 years ago to help Jews fleeing persecution find safety, and has been a leader in every iteration of the bipartisan-supported U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, whether responding to people impacted by wars in Vietnam, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan, or religious persecution in Myanmar, Iran, and the former Soviet Union. Our history and the Jewish values of welcome and compassion for refugees have always guided our work in assisting millions of people on their journey to safety.
We will continue to speak out for a return to a nondiscriminatory program, and refugee processing and admissions for those whose lives are in danger, including Iranian religious minorities who are at increased risk due to hostilities in their country, Afghans who supported the U.S. operation and have been abandoned around the world including at Camp As Salyiyah in Qatar, and tens of thousands of refugees who were conditionally approved for resettlement prior to January 20, 2025 and have been left stranded. The Trump administration may have abandoned the U.S. legacy of welcome, but HIAS never will.
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