US has let in 4,499 refugees since October - all but three were South African

US has let in 4,499 refugees since October - all but three were South AfricanJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMayeni JonesAfrica correspondent, JohannesburgReutersThe first group of white South Africans granted refugee status arrived in the US in May last yearPresident Donald Trump's overhaul of US refugee policies has created a major shift in the number and nationalities of people admitted to the country, US government data shows.Since October 2025, 4,499 refugees were resettled in the US, according to the Refugee Processing Center. All, except three from Afghanistan, were South African.In the last full fiscal year of the Biden administration, which started in October 2023, 125,000 people were accepted from 85 countries.Last year, Trump halted all refugee admissions, including for applicants from warzones, but allowed Afrikaners, a white minority group he said was persecuted, to seek resettlement. South Africa objected to his characterisation.In announcing the change, Trump said it would help strengthen national security and public safety.Priority was to be given to Afrikaner South Africans and "other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands", according to an announcement.Diplomatic tensions between Washington and Pretoria have been rising since Trump returned to the White House.Just over a year ago, South Africa's ambassador in the US, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled after accusing Trump of "mobilising a supremacism" and trying to "project white victimhood as a dog whistle".Then, in the Oval Office in May, Trump confronted his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, where he claimed that white farmers in South Africa were targets of persecution and "genocide". Ramaphosa tried to refute Trump's assertions and was backed up by John Steenhuisen, the white leader of the Democratic Alliance, which is part of the coalition government."Certainly, the majority of South...