US Withdraws More Than 100,000 Visas Since Trump’s Comeback

 

The United States has canceled more than 100,000 visas since President Donald Trump assumed office on an anti-immigration platform, setting a record for a single year, the State Department announced Monday.

“The Trump administration has no higher priority than protecting American citizens and upholding American sovereignty,” said State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.

Since Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, 2025, the number of visas revoked is two and a half times higher than the total in 2024, when Joe Biden was president.

The State Department noted that “thousands” of the visa cancellations were due to criminal offenses, ranging from assault to drunk driving.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has highlighted the revocation of visas for students who protested against Israel. He invoked a McCarthy-era law that allows the US to deny entry to foreigners seen as opposing American foreign policy, though some high-profile targets successfully challenged their deportation in court.

According to the State Department, 8,000 of the canceled visas were held by students.

The Trump administration has also increased scrutiny of visa applicants, including reviewing social media activity, as part of broader efforts to tighten immigration control.

These visa revocations are part of a wider campaign of mass deportations, carried out aggressively through a surge of federal agents. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security reported that the administration had deported more than 605,000 people, with an additional 2.5 million leaving the country voluntarily.

AFP