The Trump administration will begin reviewing all 55 million U.S. visa holders to determine whether any have committed offenses that could lead to deportation.
Any U.S. visa holders found with "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 visas revoked and deported, the State Department announced Thursday. Officials told the Associated Press that all U.S. visa holders undergo "continuous vetting" designed to detect offenses that could lead to removal. The department told AP that it is targeting those who have overstayed their visas, conducted criminal activity, or are threats to public safety.
No One Will be Spared
"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 intensified crackdown on the visa system, with student visa holders facing heightened scrutiny.
Since Trump took office in January, roughly 6,000 student visas have been revoked — about 4,000 of which were taken from international students who violated the law.
A State Department official previously told The New York Post that the "vast majority" of those people were involved in offenses such as DUI, burglary, or assault.
More than 300 visas were also revoked after it was found that the holders showed "support for terrorism" — which, according to the State Department, included "raising money 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.
Part of Wider Move
Officials said that the reviews will cover visa holders' social media activity, criminal and immigration records from their home countries, as well as any enforceable violations of U.S. law committed during their stay in the United States.
This crackdown is part of President Trump's broader campaign against illegal immigration in the U.S. — a push that has led to the first decline in the immigrant population in the country in five decades.
A recent Pew Research Center report found that when Trump began his second term in January, the U.S. had 53.3 million immigrants.
By June, that number had declined to 51.9 million — a decrease of 1.4 million in only about five months.
