Trump Refugee Admissions Hit Record Low in FY 2026 Snapshot Report

The United States admitted just 16,292 refugees in fiscal year 2026, the lowest annual total in the history of the U.S. refugee program.

That figure, reported by the Center for Immigration Studies in "A Snapshot of FY 2026 Refugee Admissions", covers the fiscal year that ran from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. The number comes from Refugee Processing Center portal data and lands at about 93% of the year's 17,500-person ceiling, according to CIS. Nearly all of those admissions went to one group: South African nationals, overwhelmingly Afrikaners.

How Did the Admissions Cap Get Set So Low?
Who Was Actually Admitted?
How Does This Compare to Previous Years?
Who Is Affected, and What Comes Next?

How Did the Admissions Cap Get Set So Low?

President Trump's Presidential Determination, signed September 30, 2025, set the FY2026 refugee ceiling at 7,500 — the lowest cap in the history of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), according to the determination covered by EIG Law. The determination prioritized Afrikaners from South Africa and others the administration described as "victims of illegal or unjust discrimination." That cap didn't hold for the full year.

An emergency Presidential Determination, PD 2026-14, raised the ceiling to 17,500 refugees. It was issued May 21, 2026 and published May 27, 2026 in the Federal Register at 91 FR 31645, citing alleged South African incitement of racially motivated violence against Afrikaners as the justification for the increase. Even with the higher ceiling, actual admissions fell well short. The final count of 16,292 came in under even the revised 17,500 target, per CIS.

Who Was Actually Admitted?

Of the 16,292 refugees admitted in FY2026, 16,287 were South African nationals, almost entirely Afrikaners. Only 5 were Afghan refugees, according to Refugee Processing Center data cited by CIS. That imbalance reflects the policy priority set in the original Presidential Determination, which named Afrikaners as the intended beneficiaries of the program while leaving other refugee populations — including Afghans who worked with U.S.

forces, and refugees from conflict zones in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia — almost entirely outside the program for the year. The Congressional Research Service's July 28, 2026 report described USRAP as effectively suspended since late January 2025 under a separate Trump executive order, with admissions proceeding only through case-by-case exceptions. By June 30, 2026, total admissions under that suspension stood at 7,730, according to CRS report IF13277.

How Does This Compare to Previous Years?

The FY2026 total represents the steepest two-year decline in the modern refugee program's history. U.S. refugee admissions fell from 100,034 in FY2024 to 38,102 in FY2025, then to roughly 16,292 in FY2026, according to Pew Research Center's analysis.

That's a drop of more than 83% in two years. The decline started under the executive order suspending USRAP in early 2025 and continued through the low initial FY2026 ceiling, even after the May 2026 emergency increase opened more slots. Refugee Council USA's first-quarter FY2026 report, covering arrivals through the end of calendar 2025, counted just 720 USRAP arrivals against the original 7,500 annual goal. RCUSA also said the September 2025 determination was issued without the statutorily required report to, and consultation with, Congress, according to its Q1 arrivals report.

Who Is Affected, and What Comes Next?

Refugees from countries other than South Africa — including Afghan allies, and people fleeing conflicts in Sudan, Myanmar, Venezuela, and elsewhere — were almost entirely excluded from admission in FY2026. Resettlement agencies and sponsor organizations that historically processed cases from a broad range of countries saw their pipelines narrowed to a single nationality for most of the year. The policy isn't limited to FY2026.

The State Department notified Congress on September 22, 2026 that it intends to cap FY2027 refugee admissions at 17,500 again, with most slots reserved for Afrikaners, according to reporting on the notification. That signals the same prioritization structure will continue into the next fiscal year. For readers tracking a pending refugee case or sponsorship, the practical takeaway is that non-Afrikaner applications have had almost no throughput for two consecutive fiscal years, and the FY2027 notification gives no indication that pattern will change. Anyone with a case tied to a country other than South Africa should treat current USRAP capacity for their category as effectively near zero rather than expect it to open based on the nominal 17,500 ceiling.

Owed money from a settlement? Check what is open at OpenClassActions.com. Caring for someone with dementia? Find practical guides at HelpDementia.com. Working out a skin routine? Evidence-based answers at AcneAdvocate.com. Forgot the name of a movie? Identify it at FindThisMovie.com. Was your data exposed? Track active breaches at DataBreachRadar.com.