The Refugee Act of 1980 created the modern US Refugee Admissions Program. Each year the president sets a ceiling on refugee admissions after consulting Congress. Refugees are screened overseas, and after a year in the US they can apply for a green card.
US refugee policy has long reflected racial and political preferences. In 1939, the US turned away the MS St. Louis, carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. Cold War policy favored people fleeing communist governments.
Admissions have swung widely in recent years. The US admitted about 100,000 refugees in fiscal 2024, the most in three decades. In January 2025, the Trump administration suspended the program. It later set the fiscal 2026 ceiling at 7,500, the lowest on record, prioritizing Afrikaners from South Africa, and in May 2026 raised it to 17,500, with the added slots reserved for Afrikaners.