The Trump administration has announced it will begin reviewing all 55 million U.S. visa holders to determine whether any should be deported.
According to the State Department, immigrants holding U.S. visas who are found to have “indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization” will have their residency permits revoked and face deportation.
Officials told the Associated Press that all U.S. visa holders are subject to “continuous vetting” to identify potential deportable offenses.
“We review all available information as part of our vetting, including law enforcement or immigration records or any other information that comes to light after visa issuance indicating a potential ineligibility,” the department said.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on the visa system, focusing in particular on student visa holders.
Since President Trump took office in January, 6,000 student visas have been revoked — about 4,000 of them belonging to international students who broke the law.
A State Department official previously told The Post that the “vast majority” of these individuals had committed crimes such as driving under the influence, burglary, or assault.
More than 300 visas were revoked after holders were found to have shown “support for terrorism,” which the department said included “raising funds for the militant group Hamas.”
“Every single student visa revoked under the Trump Administration has happened because the individual has either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism while in the United States,” a State Department official told Fox News.
This crackdown is part of a broader effort by President Trump to target illegal immigration in the U.S. — a move that has led to the first decline in immigrant populations the country has seen in five decades.
According to a recent Pew Research Center study, there were 53.3 million immigrants living in the U.S. when Trump was sworn in for his second term in January. By June, that number had fallen to 51.9 million — a decrease of 1.4 million in just five months.
Source: nypost.com