The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill

Selective sanctuary: America’s ‘White South Africans Only’ refugee policy is wrong

by Rick Santos, opinion contributor - 10/29/26 10:00 AM ET

by Rick Santos, opinion contributor - 10/29/26 10:00 AM ET

Associated Press FILE – Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau greets Afrikaner refugees from South Africa, May 12, 2025, at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

On the first day of his second term, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program.” That decades-long program, which historically enjoyed broad bipartisan support, provides a legal way for refugees fleeing persecution in other countries to be rigorously vetted and, if approved, resettled in the United States.

The executive order, which remains in effect, amounts to an indefinite refugee ban, suspending the program “until such time as the further entry into…