In the chaotic bureaucracy of the American immigration system, few things remain constant—except Donald Trump’s knack for turning humanitarian policy into culture war spectacle. Refugees, once a bipartisan issue, are now cast as characters in the President’s favourite morality play: a grand narrative where white grievance wears the hero’s cape, and the rest of the world is a faceless threat to “Western civilisation.”Within hours of being sworn in for a second term in January, President Trump signed an executive order suspending the entire refugee resettlement program. Thousands of lives were upended. Iraqis, Afghans, and Sudanese—many of whom had already cleared years of vetting—were left stranded in transit lounges or refugee camps. Immigration officers cancelled flights, locked databases, and watched as the backlog ballooned. Meanwhile, Trump’s aides quickly signalled that the suspension wasn’t just about “security.” It was about ideology.Then came the twist: just weeks after closing the gates to war-traumatised families from the Global South, Trump made a big show of welcoming 59 white South African farmers—Afrikaners—who he claimed were victims of “race-based persecution.” He called their arrival a “symbolic rebirth of the refugee program.” His adviser Stephen Miller declared the resettlement “the textbook definition” of what the Refugee Act of 1980 was meant to protect.It’s not hard to see what’s happening here. The Trump administration hasn’t just restricted immigration—it has repurposed refugee policy into a tool of white identity politics.
From “Shithole Countries” to Sacred Settlers
Trump’s refugee preference didn’t appear out of nowhere. In 2018, he tweeted about the supposed “large-scale killing” of white farmers in South Africa after watching a segment on Fox News, where Tucker Carlson showcased the government’s controversial land reform policy. The program, designed to redress generations of apartheid-era dispossession, was mischaracterised as reverse racism—triggering the MAGA world’s latest martyr complex.Trump’s fixation with the Afrikaners intensified over time, especially after South Africa supported a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. This wasn’t just about land anymore—it was about allegiance. South Africa had broken ranks with the West, and Trump pounced. His February executive order, titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” accused Pretoria of racism—against white people.Afrikaners, in this narrative, became the perfect Trumpian refugee: white, Christian, English-speaking, and conservative. Victims not of war, famine, or autocracy—but of “wokeness,” “redistribution,” and Black-majority governance.
Making America White Again
This retooling of the refugee programme is part of a larger ideological project. Trump has long insisted that the United States should favour immigrants who can “assimilate” easily. While the word sounds neutral, the intent is not. In practice, “assimilate” has meant English-speaking, Christian, Westernised—and, often, white.Trump’s first term saw the refugee cap slashed year after year, with Miller meticulously dismantling the infrastructure of the resettlement ecosystem. Agencies closed, funding dried up, and vetting criteria were rewritten to be nearly impossible. In 2020, only 11,000 refugees were admitted—the lowest since the modern system began in 1980.Biden reversed course in 2023, raising the cap and admitting over 100,000 people from Afghanistan, Syria, Haiti, and the Northern Triangle. But Trump’s return in 2025 reversed the reversal. He didn’t just cut refugee numbers—he changed the very premise of the programme.The new litmus test: Are you from a group that confirms the white conservative worldview of victimhood?
The War on “Unassimilables”
While Trump extended open arms to white South Africans, his administration has quietly gutted protections for others. Temporary Protected Status (TPS)—a policy meant to shelter migrants from war or natural disaster—has been rolled back for Afghans, Haitians, Sudanese, and Venezuelans. Humanitarian parole programmes, hastily created under Biden to manage the surge of asylum seekers from failing states, are being cancelled one executive order at a time.The cruelty is deliberate—and proudly advertised. In May, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration’s plan to revoke TPS for nearly 350,000 Venezuelans. Within days, humanitarian parole protections for another half a million people were dismantled. By June, the Department of Homeland Security had created a new “Office of Remigration,” charged with “returning illegal aliens to their countries of origin.”The term “remigration” isn’t bureaucratic lingo—it’s a loaded ideological import from Europe’s far-right. It’s used by anti-immigrant parties in France, Germany, and Hungary to suggest that diversity itself is a problem to be solved. That message now has a desk in the State Department.
Enter Elon Musk: The Billionaire Enabler
One of Trump’s most vocal cheerleaders in this refugee reshuffle is Elon Musk. Born in Pretoria, Musk has leaned into Afrikaner grievance with gusto. He’s repeatedly posted conspiracy theories about white farmers being “systematically murdered” in South Africa and has denounced the country’s Black Economic Empowerment laws as “anti-white racism.”Musk’s tech empire also has a financial stake. Starlink, his satellite internet firm, has been slow to expand into South Africa due to laws requiring partial local ownership by Black or historically disadvantaged shareholders. Rather than comply, Musk went political—amplifying anti-Black narratives and lobbying the Trump White House to intervene.Together, Trump and Musk are creating an unlikely alliance between Silicon Valley libertarianism and old-school white nationalism—one tweet, one visa policy at a time.
What Remains of the Refugee Act?
The 1980 Refugee Act was born in the aftermath of Vietnam, shaped by Cold War politics and moral imperatives. It was never perfect—but it represented an ideal: that America would offer shelter to the persecuted, regardless of race, religion, or ideology.That ideal is now being eroded. Where once we debated how many refugees to admit, we now debate which kind of victim deserves protection. War or climate disaster no longer qualifies you. Being white and “anti-woke” just might.Refugee policy, like so much in Trump’s America, has become a wedge issue. A loyalty test. A statement of values.And the message is chillingly clear: if you look like Trump’s voters, you’re welcome. If you don’t, take a number—and prepare to be “remigrated.”Bottom Line: Donald Trump has turned America’s refugee program into a mirror of his political base—white, angry, and convinced they’re the real victims. Refugees are no longer chosen for their need, but for their narrative value. Welcome to the new Ellis Island: now with ideological screening, and Fox News as gatekeeper.
