US refugee admissions fall to lowest level in 25 years under Trump
South Africans now make up nearly all arrivals after policy shift prioritising Afrikaners
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Photograph: Pew Research Center (embedded from source)
What this story says
- The US admitted 10,258 refugees in the first ten months of fiscal 2026, down from 38,102 in fiscal 2025, as reported by Pew Research Center.
- The refugee admissions ceiling for fiscal 2026 is 17,500, the lowest since the turn of the century, according to the US State Department.
- South Africans accounted for nearly all refugee admissions in fiscal 2026, following an executive order prioritising Afrikaners, Pew Research Center reported.
- In 2025, the US admitted fewer refugees than Canada and Australia, UNHCR data showed.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 8 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
62/100
Craft
77/100
Hype
30/100
8 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
The United States admitted 10,258 refugees in the first ten months of fiscal year 2026, which ends on 30 September. That is less than a third of the 38,102 admitted in fiscal 2025, and less than a tenth of the 100,034 admitted in fiscal 2024. The figures come from US State Department data analysed by Pew Research Center.
The Trump administration set the refugee admissions ceiling for fiscal 2026 at 17,500, the lowest since the turn of the century. At the current rate, admissions will not reach that ceiling. Nearly all of the 10,258 refugees admitted so far this fiscal year are from South Africa. Before fiscal 2025, South Africans had never been among the top origin groups for US refugee admissions.
The shift follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in 2025, which prioritised resettling Afrikaners, an ethnic group descended from Dutch, German and French colonial settlers in South Africa. The order stated that the group faced "government-sponsored race-based discrimination" in South Africa, including the seizure of farms owned by White South Africans. Those claims have been disputed.
In 2025, the US admitted about 11,500 refugees, fewer than Canada’s 39,000 and Australia’s 19,000, according to UNHCR data. The US had been a world leader in refugee resettlement since the Second World War.
What the coverage left out
No right-rated outlet ran this story at all. None of the left-rated digests mentioned the executive order prioritising Afrikaners, the near-exclusive admission of South Africans in fiscal 2026, or the US falling behind Canada and Australia in refugee admissions in 2025.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 1 time, most recently on 18 Aug 2026, 11:15, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
5 rated outlets
- All five left-rated digests led on the record-low refugee admissions under the Trump administration. They carried the figures for fiscal 2026 and the comparison with fiscal 2025, as well as the admissions ceiling of 17,500. None of the digests mentioned the executive order prioritising Afrikaners or the near-exclusive admission of South Africans in fiscal 2026.
Centre
1 rated outlet
- The centre-rated report by Pew Research Center led on the sharp drop in refugee admissions during Trump’s second term. It carried the fiscal 2026 figures, the 17,500 ceiling, and the comparison with previous years. It also reported the executive order prioritising Afrikaners, the near-exclusive admission of South Africans, and the US falling behind Canada and Australia in refugee admissions in 2025.
- Pew Research Center quoted the executive order’s description of "government-sponsored race-based discrimination" against Afrikaners in South Africa. It also noted that the claims in the order have been disputed. The report included public opinion data showing that 36% of Americans said it was extremely or very important for the US to take in refugees, while 24% said it was not too or not at all important.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Read it at the source
8 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
5- Refugee admissions on track to hit record low (opens Wisconsin Examiner in a new tab)
Wisconsin Examiner — is Wisconsin Examiner biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Refugee admissions on track to hit record low • Washington State Standard (opens washingtonstatestandard.com in a new tab)
washingtonstatestandard.com — is washingtonstatestandard.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Refugee admissions on track to hit record low (opens Source New Mexico in a new tab)
Source New Mexico — is Source New Mexico biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Refugee admissions on track to hit record low (opens Louisiana Illuminator in a new tab)
Louisiana Illuminator — is Louisiana Illuminator biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Refugee admissions on track to hit record low (opens Stateline in a new tab)
Centre
1Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
2Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover US refugee admissions fall to lowest level in 25 years under Trump?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 83% are rated left, 17% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 8. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is US refugee admissions fall to lowest level in 25 years under Trump left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of US refugee admissions fall to lowest level in 25 years under Trump biased?
- US refugee admissions fall to lowest level in 25 years under Trump is one event reported by 8 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting US refugee admissions fall to lowest level in 25 years under Trump?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered US refugee admissions fall to lowest level in 25 years under Trump?
- 8 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- How many refugees did the US admit in fiscal 2026?
- The US admitted 10,258 refugees in the first ten months of fiscal 2026, down from 38,102 in fiscal 2025. The admissions ceiling for the year is 17,500, the lowest since the turn of the century, as reported by Pew Research Center.
- Why are most US refugee admissions from South Africa?
- Nearly all US refugee admissions in fiscal 2026 are from South Africa after an executive order by President Donald Trump prioritised resettling Afrikaners. The order cited "government-sponsored race-based discrimination" against the group, though those claims have been disputed.
- How does US refugee intake compare to Canada and Australia?
- In 2025, the US admitted about 11,500 refugees, fewer than Canada’s 39,000 and Australia’s 19,000, according to UNHCR data. The US had been a world leader in refugee resettlement since the Second World War.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
