Kocher Digest: 10,255 of 10,258 FY2026 Refugee Admissions Through July 31 Were From South Africa (99.97%); State Department Tables Record Nationality, and PD 2025-13 Allocates 'Primarily' to Afrikaners and Other Victims of Discrimination

Austin Kocher’s immigration-numbers digest for September 19, 2026 reports that 99.97% of every refugee the United States admitted in fiscal year 2026 through July 31 came from South Africa, 10,255 people out of 10,258, and writes: “Just three people came from a country other than South Africa.” The State Department’s Refugee Processing Center describes its admissions report as broken down both by country of chargeability and by month of admission, and its state-and-nationality report as broken down by primary applicant nationality and by month of admission. The tables are about nationality; they carry no ethnicity category, so the counts are admissions of South African nationals.

What the policy documents say. Presidential Determination 2025-13 of September 30, 2025 provides for admissions of up to 7,500 refugees in Fiscal Year 2026 and states that the numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa pursuant to Executive Order 14204, and other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands. Presidential Determination 2026-14 of May 21, 2026, made under section 207(b), finds “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation” and states that an increase in the ceiling to 17,500 is warranted; it provides that the additional admissions shall be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa, consistent with the directives in Executive Order 14204.

Earlier canon on the program: 2025-10-22–racially-exclusive-refugee-program. Related: 1980-03-17–refugee-act-establishes-systematic-asylum-process.