Trump administration has revoked 80,000 non-immigrant visas, US official says

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked round 80,000 non-immigrant visas since its inauguration on January 20 for offenses starting from driving underneath the affect to assault and theft, a senior State Department official mentioned on Wednesday.

The extent of the revocations, first reported by Washington Examiner, displays a broad immigration crackdown initiated when Trump got here into workplace, deporting an unprecedented variety of migrants together with some who held legitimate visas.

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The administration has additionally adopted a stricter coverage on granting visas, with tightened social media vetting and expanded screening.

Around 16,000 of the visa revocations had been tied to circumstances of driving underneath the affect, whereas about 12,000 had been for assault and one other 8,000 for theft.

“These three crimes accounted for almost half of revocations this year,” mentioned the senior State Department official, talking on the situation of anonymity.

The division additionally mentioned final month that it had revoked the visas of at the least six folks over social media feedback concerning the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in May mentioned he has revoked the visas of a whole bunch, maybe hundreds, of individuals, together with college students, due to involvement in actions that he mentioned went in opposition to U.S. international coverage priorities.

Trump administration officers have mentioned that scholar visa and inexperienced card holders are topic to deportation over their assist for Palestinians and criticism of Israel’s conduct within the battle in Gaza, calling their actions a risk to U.S. international coverage and accusing them of being pro-Hamas.

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