Judy Helgen,
Minnesota Reformer
October 24, 2025 2:08PM ET
Flags fly near a banner depicting Donald Trump during a "No Kings" protest. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
It’s here and it’s happening. The recent revelations about Republicans “joking” about an affinity for Nazism should wake us up to the reality of the moment. When President Donald Trump says immigrants have “bad genes” and are “poisoning the blood of our country,” he has raised the specter of eugenics that thrived in our country and of course in Germany during the 1930s. There’s a direct line from this thinking to the Holocaust.
We need look no further than Minnesota for insight into this ugly history. During the early 20th century, Minnesota and many other states passed eugenics laws to support so-called racial purification. Laws in 31 states allowed the sterilization of mentally disabled and “feeble-minded” people, epileptics and more. Minnesota passed a sterilization law in 1925, and more than 2,000 people — mostly women — were sterilized. In California around 20,000 were sterilized from 1917 to 1952.
Through the 1930s, American scientists at the prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Lab in New York promoted eugenics and maintained a Eugenics Record Office. David Starr Jordan, who wrote early major works on the fishes of North America and was president of Stanford University, was a white supremacist and supported forced sterilization programs aimed at poor Black, Indigenous and Hispanic women as well as the mentally disabled.
We know that Charles Lindbergh, the Minnesotan famous for his solo flight across the Atlantic, was a eugenicist and talked of preserving the inheritance of European blood and guarding against its dilution by foreign races. He praised Hitler. Margaret Sanger, who was the first president of Planned Parenthood, was a eugenicist.
The Minnesota Eugenics Society was founded in 1923 by Charles F. Dight, who served as president until his death in 1938. He actively promoted reproduction of the “fit” and race betterment (the State Fair held “fit family” contests).
During the 1930s, Dight communicated with Hitler, praising him for his plan to “stamp out mental inferiority among the German people” and “advance the eugenics movement.” If carried out effectively, Dight wrote, “it will make him the leader of the greatest national movement for human betterment the world has ever seen.”
Our country has had a history of restricting immigrants, e.g. the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act that limited immigrants from eastern and southern Europe and Japan.
Trump castigates immigrants as criminals and insane, even though immigrants have lower crime rates than that of American citizens.
How could the President release 1,500 convicted insurrectionists yet push to deport immigrants? He’s likely a true believer in the nonsensical race science that was predominant a century ago.
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde, who spent a quarter-century in Minnesota, told Trump at the now famous prayer service early this year, “The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry plants and meatpacking plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals — they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors.”
Aren’t we all the immigrants or the descendants of immigrants? And don’t we all have defects?
Let us not forget: We are called to protect the vulnerable, to treat everyone as equals, to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”
October 24, 2025 2:08PM ET
Flags fly near a banner depicting Donald Trump during a "No Kings" protest. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
It’s here and it’s happening. The recent revelations about Republicans “joking” about an affinity for Nazism should wake us up to the reality of the moment. When President Donald Trump says immigrants have “bad genes” and are “poisoning the blood of our country,” he has raised the specter of eugenics that thrived in our country and of course in Germany during the 1930s. There’s a direct line from this thinking to the Holocaust.
We need look no further than Minnesota for insight into this ugly history. During the early 20th century, Minnesota and many other states passed eugenics laws to support so-called racial purification. Laws in 31 states allowed the sterilization of mentally disabled and “feeble-minded” people, epileptics and more. Minnesota passed a sterilization law in 1925, and more than 2,000 people — mostly women — were sterilized. In California around 20,000 were sterilized from 1917 to 1952.
Through the 1930s, American scientists at the prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Lab in New York promoted eugenics and maintained a Eugenics Record Office. David Starr Jordan, who wrote early major works on the fishes of North America and was president of Stanford University, was a white supremacist and supported forced sterilization programs aimed at poor Black, Indigenous and Hispanic women as well as the mentally disabled.
We know that Charles Lindbergh, the Minnesotan famous for his solo flight across the Atlantic, was a eugenicist and talked of preserving the inheritance of European blood and guarding against its dilution by foreign races. He praised Hitler. Margaret Sanger, who was the first president of Planned Parenthood, was a eugenicist.
The Minnesota Eugenics Society was founded in 1923 by Charles F. Dight, who served as president until his death in 1938. He actively promoted reproduction of the “fit” and race betterment (the State Fair held “fit family” contests).
During the 1930s, Dight communicated with Hitler, praising him for his plan to “stamp out mental inferiority among the German people” and “advance the eugenics movement.” If carried out effectively, Dight wrote, “it will make him the leader of the greatest national movement for human betterment the world has ever seen.”
Our country has had a history of restricting immigrants, e.g. the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act that limited immigrants from eastern and southern Europe and Japan.
Trump castigates immigrants as criminals and insane, even though immigrants have lower crime rates than that of American citizens.
How could the President release 1,500 convicted insurrectionists yet push to deport immigrants? He’s likely a true believer in the nonsensical race science that was predominant a century ago.
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde, who spent a quarter-century in Minnesota, told Trump at the now famous prayer service early this year, “The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry plants and meatpacking plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals — they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors.”
Aren’t we all the immigrants or the descendants of immigrants? And don’t we all have defects?
Let us not forget: We are called to protect the vulnerable, to treat everyone as equals, to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”
Judy Helgen, PhD, is a retired research scientist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. She lives in Falcon Heights.
Trump Ripped for ‘Absurdly Low’ and ‘Racist’ Refugee Cap Prioritizing White South Africans
“Let’s call this what it is—white supremacy disguised as refugee policy,” said the head of the Haitian Bridge Alliance.
US President Donald Trump displays an article about Afrikaners as he meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025.
(Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Jessica Corbett
Oct 30, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
After months of reporting, President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday officially announced that it is restricting the number of refugees for this fiscal year to 7,500, with most spots going to white South Africans—a policy swiftly denounced by human rights advocates and Democrats in Congress.
“This decision doesn’t just lower the refugee admissions ceiling. It lowers our moral standing,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge. “For more than four decades, the US refugee program has been a lifeline for families fleeing war, persecution, and repression. At a time of crisis in countries ranging from Afghanistan to Venezuela to Sudan and beyond, concentrating the vast majority of admissions on one group undermines the program’s purpose as well as its credibility.”
The Trump administration’s notice in the Federal Register doesn’t mention any groups besides Afrikaners, white descendants of Europeans who subjected South Africa’s majority Black population to a system of apartheid for decades. Multiple rich Trump backers—including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, venture capitalist David Sacks, and Palantir founder Peter Thiel—spent time in the country during those years.
The 7,500 cap, initially reported earlier this month, is a significant drop from both the 40,000 limit that was previously reported as under consideration by the Republican administration, and the more than 100,000 allowed under former Democratic President Joe Biden.
Four congressional Democrats who serve as ranking members on related committees—Reps. Jamie Raskin (Md.) and Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), along with Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Alex Padilla (Calif.)—issued a joint statement condemning the new cap, which they noted is “an astonishing 94% cut over last year and the lowest level in our nation’s history.”
“To add insult to injury, the administration is skipping over the tens of thousands of refugees who have been waiting in line for years in dire circumstances to come to the United States, and it is instead prioritizing a single privileged racial group—white South African Afrikaners—for these severely limited slots,” they said. “This bizarre presidential determination is not only morally indefensible, it is illegal and invalid.”
The four lawmakers continued:
The administration has brazenly ignored the statutory requirement to consult with the House and Senate Judiciary Committees before setting the annual refugee admissions ceiling. That process exists to ensure that decisions of such great consequence reflect our nation’s values, our humanitarian commitments, and the rule of law, not the racial preferences or political whims of any one president.
The reason for this evasion is evident: The administration knows it cannot defend its egregious policy before Congress or the American people. While nearly 130,000 vetted, approved refugees—men, women, and children fleeing persecution and violence—wait in limbo after being promised a chance at safety, Donald Trump is looking to turn refugee admissions into another political giveaway for his pet projects and infatuations.
We reject this announcement as both unlawful and contrary to America’s longstanding commitment to offer refuge to the persecuted. To twist our refugee policy into a partisan straightjacket is to betray both our legal obligations and our moral identity as a nation.
“Let’s call this what it is—white supremacy disguised as refugee policy,” declared Guerline Jozef, executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance. “At a time when Black refugees from Haiti, Sudan, the Congo, and Cameroon are drowning at sea, languishing in detention, or being deported to death, the US government has decided to open its arms to those who already enjoy global privilege. This is not just immoral—it’s anti-Blackness codified into federal policy.”
This week alone, Hurricane Melissa killed more than 20 people in Haiti, and health officials said that the Rapid Support Forces, which are fighting against Sudan’s government, killed over 1,500 people—including more than 460 systematically slaughtered at a maternity hospital—in the city of el-Fasher.
“We reject the idea that whiteness equates to worthiness,” Jozef said of Trump’s new refugee plan. She also took aim at the president’s broader anti-immigrant policy, which has included deporting hundreds of people to El Salvador’s so-called Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
“From Del Rio to Lampedusa, Black migrants and other immigrants of color have been criminalized, beaten, caged, and disappeared in CECOT camp in El Salvador—while their humanity is debated like a policy variable,” she said. “This moment demands our humanity, our resistance, not silence.”
Amy Fischer, Amnesty International USA’s director for refugee and migrant rights, also tied Thursday’s announcement to the broader agenda of the president—who, during his first term, faced global condemnation for policies including the forcible separation of families at the southern border.
“Setting this cap at such an absurdly low number and prioritizing white Afrikaners is a racist move that will turn the US’s back on tens of thousands of people around the world who are fleeing persecution, violence, and human rights abuses,” said Fischer. “Refugees have a human right to protection, and the international community—including the United States—has a responsibility to uphold that right.”
“This announcement is yet another attack by the Trump administration on refugees and immigrants, showing disregard for international systems meant to protect human rights,” she added. “The Trump administration must reverse course and ensure a fair, humane, and rights-based refugee admissions determination.”
“Let’s call this what it is—white supremacy disguised as refugee policy,” said the head of the Haitian Bridge Alliance.
US President Donald Trump displays an article about Afrikaners as he meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025.
(Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Jessica Corbett
Oct 30, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
After months of reporting, President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday officially announced that it is restricting the number of refugees for this fiscal year to 7,500, with most spots going to white South Africans—a policy swiftly denounced by human rights advocates and Democrats in Congress.
“This decision doesn’t just lower the refugee admissions ceiling. It lowers our moral standing,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge. “For more than four decades, the US refugee program has been a lifeline for families fleeing war, persecution, and repression. At a time of crisis in countries ranging from Afghanistan to Venezuela to Sudan and beyond, concentrating the vast majority of admissions on one group undermines the program’s purpose as well as its credibility.”
The Trump administration’s notice in the Federal Register doesn’t mention any groups besides Afrikaners, white descendants of Europeans who subjected South Africa’s majority Black population to a system of apartheid for decades. Multiple rich Trump backers—including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, venture capitalist David Sacks, and Palantir founder Peter Thiel—spent time in the country during those years.
The 7,500 cap, initially reported earlier this month, is a significant drop from both the 40,000 limit that was previously reported as under consideration by the Republican administration, and the more than 100,000 allowed under former Democratic President Joe Biden.
Four congressional Democrats who serve as ranking members on related committees—Reps. Jamie Raskin (Md.) and Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), along with Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Alex Padilla (Calif.)—issued a joint statement condemning the new cap, which they noted is “an astonishing 94% cut over last year and the lowest level in our nation’s history.”
“To add insult to injury, the administration is skipping over the tens of thousands of refugees who have been waiting in line for years in dire circumstances to come to the United States, and it is instead prioritizing a single privileged racial group—white South African Afrikaners—for these severely limited slots,” they said. “This bizarre presidential determination is not only morally indefensible, it is illegal and invalid.”
The four lawmakers continued:
The administration has brazenly ignored the statutory requirement to consult with the House and Senate Judiciary Committees before setting the annual refugee admissions ceiling. That process exists to ensure that decisions of such great consequence reflect our nation’s values, our humanitarian commitments, and the rule of law, not the racial preferences or political whims of any one president.
The reason for this evasion is evident: The administration knows it cannot defend its egregious policy before Congress or the American people. While nearly 130,000 vetted, approved refugees—men, women, and children fleeing persecution and violence—wait in limbo after being promised a chance at safety, Donald Trump is looking to turn refugee admissions into another political giveaway for his pet projects and infatuations.
We reject this announcement as both unlawful and contrary to America’s longstanding commitment to offer refuge to the persecuted. To twist our refugee policy into a partisan straightjacket is to betray both our legal obligations and our moral identity as a nation.
“Let’s call this what it is—white supremacy disguised as refugee policy,” declared Guerline Jozef, executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance. “At a time when Black refugees from Haiti, Sudan, the Congo, and Cameroon are drowning at sea, languishing in detention, or being deported to death, the US government has decided to open its arms to those who already enjoy global privilege. This is not just immoral—it’s anti-Blackness codified into federal policy.”
This week alone, Hurricane Melissa killed more than 20 people in Haiti, and health officials said that the Rapid Support Forces, which are fighting against Sudan’s government, killed over 1,500 people—including more than 460 systematically slaughtered at a maternity hospital—in the city of el-Fasher.
“We reject the idea that whiteness equates to worthiness,” Jozef said of Trump’s new refugee plan. She also took aim at the president’s broader anti-immigrant policy, which has included deporting hundreds of people to El Salvador’s so-called Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
“From Del Rio to Lampedusa, Black migrants and other immigrants of color have been criminalized, beaten, caged, and disappeared in CECOT camp in El Salvador—while their humanity is debated like a policy variable,” she said. “This moment demands our humanity, our resistance, not silence.”
Amy Fischer, Amnesty International USA’s director for refugee and migrant rights, also tied Thursday’s announcement to the broader agenda of the president—who, during his first term, faced global condemnation for policies including the forcible separation of families at the southern border.
“Setting this cap at such an absurdly low number and prioritizing white Afrikaners is a racist move that will turn the US’s back on tens of thousands of people around the world who are fleeing persecution, violence, and human rights abuses,” said Fischer. “Refugees have a human right to protection, and the international community—including the United States—has a responsibility to uphold that right.”
“This announcement is yet another attack by the Trump administration on refugees and immigrants, showing disregard for international systems meant to protect human rights,” she added. “The Trump administration must reverse course and ensure a fair, humane, and rights-based refugee admissions determination.”
The announcement came just days after Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to South Africa, far-right media critic Brent Bozell, faced intense criticism for refusing to say whether he would support or oppose repealing laws allowing Black Americans to vote during his Senate confirmation hearing.
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