The Trump administration is preparing to revoke up to 200,000 visas issued to foreigners who later applied for asylum in the United States, in what would be the largest mass visa revocation effort in the country’s history. The move, first reported by The Associated Press on Monday, is part of a broader crackdown on what officials describe as widespread abuse of the immigration system.
The State Department is expected to announce the initiative soon, targeting foreigners holding B1 and B2 business and tourist visas issued between 2016 and 2026 who subsequently filed for asylum. According to the AP, the administration argues that some foreigners are obtaining temporary visas under false pretenses — claiming they intend to visit briefly — only to use the asylum process as a backdoor to permanent residence.
“We are coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement to the AP. Pigott declined to specify exactly how many visa holders the department hopes to target, noting that “as the process will be ongoing, the number of revocations remains dynamic and will be done on a rolling basis.”
The effort builds on earlier actions by the administration, which has already revoked roughly 175,000 visas tied to individuals accused or convicted of crimes. But the new measure is distinct in scale and scope, sweeping in a broad category of visa holders who have not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing — only of entering the U.S. on a temporary visa and then seeking asylum.
How the Revocation Would Work
Revoking a visa does not automatically trigger deportation, according to the AP. Instead, for many affected individuals, the change would shift their pending asylum applications from the affirmative asylum process — where applicants present their cases to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers — to the defensive asylum process. In that process, applicants must make their case before an immigration judge while already facing removal proceedings. That shift is likely to make it harder for applicants to remain in the country while their claims are adjudicated, as they would be in removal proceedings from the outset.
The administration’s position is that the asylum system is being exploited by individuals who never intended to leave the U.S. after their visas expired. Many foreigners overstay their visas and then use the lengthy asylum adjudication process — which can take years — to remain in the country well beyond their authorized stay. The AP reports that the administration believes this practice has become systemic, with visa overstays and asylum filings increasingly used as a combined strategy to remain in the U.S. indefinitely.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau took to X on Monday to outline the administration’s concerns, framing the issue as a matter of public trust. “People in the US and all over the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims,” Landau wrote. “Asylum isn’t supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration laws; rather, it’s supposed to provide a narrow safe harbor for persons persecuted because of their ‘race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.’”
Landau’s language echoes the legal standard for asylum, which requires applicants to demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution based on one of five protected grounds. The administration argues that many applicants do not meet that threshold and are instead using the asylum system simply to extend their time in the country.
Part of a Broader Immigration Crackdown
The visa revocation effort is just the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration since President Donald Trump returned to the White House to tighten restrictions on legal immigration programs. Officials have already revoked approximately 175,000 visas connected to individuals accused or convicted of crimes, and the administration has taken steps to limit various visa categories and increase scrutiny of applicants.
As part of the latest initiative, federal officials have also targeted “birth tourism” schemes — operations that coach foreigners on how to fraudulently obtain visas in order to travel to the U.S. and give birth, ensuring their children receive U.S. citizenship. The administration has been cracking down on such operations, which it views as another form of immigration fraud.
The scale of the new effort is unprecedented. While the administration has previously revoked visas in large numbers, targeting up to 200,000 individuals in a single initiative would represent the largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history, according to the AP’s reporting. The number, however, remains fluid. Pigott emphasized that the process is ongoing and the final count will depend on how many visa holders are identified and determined to have filed asylum claims after their visas were issued.
Immigration advocates are likely to push back against the effort, arguing that many asylum seekers have legitimate claims and that shifting them into defensive proceedings could put them at greater risk of deportation without a fair opportunity to present their cases. The administration, however, maintains that the move is necessary to deter fraud and restore integrity to the immigration system.
“We are coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently,” Pigott reiterated, underscoring the administration’s view that the current system is being abused.
The State Department is expected to formalize the policy in the coming days, according to the AP. The announcement will likely trigger immediate legal challenges from immigrant rights groups, who may argue that the administration is violating due process rights or the Immigration and Nationality Act. But the administration has signaled that it is prepared to defend the measure, viewing it as a necessary enforcement tool.
For the estimated 200,000 visa holders who could be affected, the news marks a significant escalation in the government’s efforts to curtail immigration. Many of those individuals are already in the U.S., having entered on valid visas and then filed for asylum. Their cases will now proceed under a different legal framework, with the government seeking to remove them from the country while their asylum claims are adjudicated.
The administration’s broader immigration agenda has already faced numerous legal battles, and this latest move is likely to add to the controversy. But for now, the State Department is moving forward, with officials framing the effort as a long-overdue correction to a system they say has been exploited for years.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-readies-for-largest-mass-visa-revocation-effort