The determination sets the ceiling at 17,500 — directed primarily to white South Africans — while the refugee program remains inaccessible for nearly everyone else
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2026
Contact: Timothy Young | timothy[dot]young at globalrefuge[dot]org
WASHINGTON – Global Refuge, one of the nation’s largest refugee resettlement organizations, today voiced its opposition to the Fiscal Year 2027 presidential determination, which sets the U.S. refugee admissions ceiling at 17,500 and directs that those places go primarily to Afrikaners from South Africa.
The ceiling is among the lowest in the program’s history — a fraction of the roughly 92,000 average set by presidents of both parties since 1980. In Fiscal Year 2026, all but five refugees admitted came from South Africa; as recently as the 2024 fiscal year, the United States welcomed refugees facing persecution and oppression from more than 85 countries.
“The annual refugee cap is a statement of national character, and today’s signals to the world that our nation’s promise of opportunity, safety, and shelter for the vulnerable no longer hinges on humanitarian need alone,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refuge. “This decision strays from a half century of global humanitarian leadership and bipartisan consensus that the United States prioritizes protection based on the danger a person faces. That standard has saved countless lives and made our communities and our nation stronger. The refugee program is a legacy worth defending, and it is what we will keep fighting to restore.”
Global Refuge is urging Congress to exercise the robust oversight the Refugee Act of 1980 envisions — not only over this determination and admissions under it, but over the administration’s broader treatment of refugees, including the re-vetting of people already lawfully admitted, frozen green card processing, and DHS guidance opening the door to the detention of refugees.
“Lawmakers in both parties have a duty to scrutinize how this determination was reached, to demand answers on behalf of the refugees and families being shut out, and to protect those already rebuilding their lives in our communities,” added Vignarajah. “We are urging them to use every tool of oversight at their disposal.”
Global Refuge is calling on the administration to reverse course — to lift the suspension, restore admissions grounded in humanitarian need, and protect refugees already rebuilding their lives and contributing to their new American communities.
“We will keep pressing for a refugee program with room for the Afghan ally who stood with our troops, the believer hunted for her faith, and the family that has run out of places to run,” said Vignarajah. “This determination is a choice, and choices can be unmade. Congress can act, and this country can still decide to reclaim its role as a beacon of hope for the world’s most vulnerable.”
Global Refuge will continue to serve every refugee entrusted to its care and to advocate for the restoration of a program worthy of the nation’s history and values.
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