Current Events: Selective Immigration/Refugee Quotas that privilege Whiteness

The following two news articles cover the current administration's policy to bring back targeted quotas on accepting refugees to the US that exclude BIPOC while favoring white South Africans. 

PBS Newshour (04/22/25):  Trump suspended the refugee program. Why is he inviting white South Africans to find a new home in the U.S.?Links to an external site.

Associated Press (10/30/25):  Trump sets 7,500 annual limit for refugees entering U.S. It'll be mostly white South AfricansLinks to an external site.

Discussion Questions

1. How does the current administration deploy racial logic to justify this policy in 2025? 
2. What evidence does the administration rely on and how credible is it? How does this "evidence" racialize in order to justify differential treatment?
3. How can you apply key course concepts and evidence from course materials to debunk their argument and contexualize this policy within a history of exclusionary policies going back more than a century?