They represent just three of the roughly 120,000 refugees who had been conditionally approved to enter the US, but who now wait in limbo due to the refugee pause. Under former President Joe Biden, over 100,000 refugees came to the US in 2024 - the highest annual figure in nearly three decades. "I didn't come here for fun": Afrikaner defends refugee status in USThe president signed an executive order in February that opened the refugee pathway exclusively to Afrikaners - white South Africans who he claimed were victims of "racial discrimination". The post-apartheid-era law was meant to address frustrations around South Africa's disproportionate land ownership; the country's white population is roughly 7% but owns roughly 72% of farmland. The moves appear in stark contrast to the White House's decision to fast-track the arrival of white South Africans - a fact that has been critiqued by refugee advocacy groups.