Overview

• Documents obtained by The New York Times describe proposals to prioritize English speakers, white South Africans, and Europeans who say they were targeted for opposing mass migration or backing populist parties.
• Officials are considering a refugee ceiling of 7,500 for the coming year, far below the prior 125,000 cap, with formal notification to Congress still outstanding.
• The draft plan would cancel hundreds of thousands of vetted pipeline cases, shift referrals from the UN to U.S. embassies, require assimilation classes, and limit resettlement in communities with large immigrant populations.
• State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott said the department is implementing the president’s priorities, while emphasizing no final decisions have been made.
• Refugee advocates and legal analysts warn the proposals are discriminatory and vulnerable to court challenges, noting some elements already evident, including the May admission of 59 white South Africans and funding shifts.