{"id":361176,"date":"2026-09-30T21:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361176\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T21:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:40:09","slug":"state-department-revoking-over-250k-visas-in-mass-immigration-vetting-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361176\/","title":{"rendered":"State Department revoking over 250K visas in mass immigration vetting crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The State Department has revoked more than 250,000 visas since President Donald Trump took office, as the administration continues to crack down on unlawful immigration and increase vetting of who is allowed to visit the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The revocations were for a variety of violations, including visa holders who violated the terms of their visas, committed crimes, called for violence against the U.S. or Americans, defrauded Americans, abused the immigration system, and endangered national security, a State Department official told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

Among the visas revoked were 2,300 in connection with birth tourism, the practice of pregnant foreign nationals traveling to the U.S. specifically to give birth so their child automatically receives citizenship.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder President Trump and Secretary Rubio, the State Department has now revoked more than 250,000 visas \u2014 a historic milestone that reflects our unwavering commitment to protecting the American people,\u201d State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.<\/p>\n

Among the visas revoked were 2,300 in connection with birth tourism, the practice of pregnant foreign nationals traveling to the U.S. specifically to give birth so their child automatically receives citizenship. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery visa decision is a national security decision. Through continuous vetting on a scale never seen before, we are identifying and removing those who commit crimes, support terrorism, defraud Americans, or abuse our immigration system,\u201d Pigott added. \u201cA U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right \u2014 and if you violate the terms of that privilege, you will lose it. We will not stop until every foreign national who threatens the safety of our communities is held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, the State Department revoked the visas of 27 Latin American officials, former officials, and their families over accusations of corruption. The officials are from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, the Trump administration began preparing to revoke business and tourist visas held by as many as 200,000 foreigners<\/a> who have applied for asylum in the U.S.<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud pose for photos before a meeting at the U.S. State Department in Washington on Sept. 28, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The effort would target B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 to foreigners who later sought asylum. At the time, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Americans were \u201cfed up\u201d with \u201cbogus asylum claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAsylum isn\u2019t supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration laws; rather, it\u2019s supposed to provide a narrow safe harbor for persons persecuted because of their \u2018race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion,\u2019\u201d he wrote on X at the time.<\/p>\n

He noted that frivolous claims have swamped the system<\/a>, which could take years to adjudicate whether applicants are entitled to asylum in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, the Trump administration began preparing to revoke business and tourist visas held by as many as 200,000 foreigners who have applied for asylum in the U.S. yossarian6 \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

In August, the State Department also revoked more than 175,000 visas. The majority of those 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.<\/p>\n

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A significant share of visas were revoked for reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse, fraud and embezzlement and other crimes, the agency said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The State Department has revoked more than 250,000 visas since President Donald Trump took office, as the administration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2301,9,11,10,49,51,50,87,18538,58,34728],"class_list":["post-361176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-immigration","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-politics","tag-state-department","tag-us-news","tag-visas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}