By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
The Department of State said on Monday that it has revoked 175,000 visas since the start of the Trump administration, targeting foreign nationals who had violated the terms of their visas, committed crimes, or called for violence against Americans.
The Trump administration has moved to tighten visa rules, impose higher fees, and last year announced it would revoke visas for people who commit crimes or other offenses.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s leadership, the State Department will continue to identify, investigate, and revoke the visas of foreign nationals who threaten the safety of the American people,” the department said on Monday.
The department added that it would continue to use “every tool available to protect our communities from those who abuse it.”
Some reasons for the revocation of the visas, according to the State Department, include the visa holders calling for violence against American citizens, abusing the U.S. immigration system, endangering national security, or defrauding citizens.
“The majority of these visas were revoked due to law enforcement encounters for a range of criminal activity, with assault, driving under the influence, theft and drug crimes being the leading causes,” the department said in a statement.
Some saw their visas revoked due to fraud and embezzlement, sexual assault, child abuse, reckless driving, arranged illegal birth tourism schemes, and more, the agency said.
Providing examples, the department said it revoked visas for a foreign national who came to the United States to teach but then was arrested for sexually assaulting one of the young students, a foreign national who falsified revenue in a company to swindle millions from investors, several foreign nationals who celebrated the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk last year, and another who was charged with human trafficking of a minor.
Others who saw their visas revoked included more than 100 people who were part of “birth tourist” parent schemes who came to the United States to give birth so their children could obtain American citizenship.
This has been challenged by the Trump administration all the way to the Supreme Court.
The Trump administration recently tightened rules around issuing visas.
Late last month, the State Department made permanent a pilot program under which citizens from 50 countries, mainly in Africa, are required to post bonds to apply for a U.S. visa.
The cost was also raised to as much as $20,000, according to a notice published in the Federal Register.
A review of reports “going back over a decade demonstrates that hundreds of thousands of nonimmigrant visitors fail to timely depart in accord with the terms of their visitor visas,” the notice said.
Days before that, the administration also finalized a rule that prevents international students from staying in the United States for more than four years unless they obtain the federal government’s approval.
“By implementing clear, finite limits on these visas, the United States is reclaiming its ability to properly screen, vet, and monitor individuals within our borders,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.
“This final rule ensures that foreign students remain focused on their primary purpose: completing their studies and returning home.”
In the same July announcement, DHS also said it would shorten stays for foreign journalists holding media visas to 240 days.
Chinese journalists would be limited to 90-day periods in the United States, according to the department.
