The State Department is gearing up to cancel as many as 200,000 visas held by foreigners who officials say gamed the system, entering America as tourists or business travelers only to file asylum claims and stay permanently.
It would be the largest mass visa revocation effort in American history.
The initiative targets holders of B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 who later applied for asylum, according to a report from The Associated Press on Monday. The Trump administration argues these individuals obtained their temporary visas under false pretenses, never intending to leave when their welcome expired.
“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.
Pigott declined to provide an exact number of foreigners in the crosshairs, noting that “as the process will be ongoing, the number of revocations remains dynamic and will be done on a rolling basis.”
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau took to X on Monday to explain why the administration views this crackdown as essential. The asylum system, he argued, has been twisted beyond recognition.
“People in the US and all over the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims. 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 wrote.
The problem is straightforward. Foreigners arrive on short-term visas, file asylum applications, and then wait out the years-long adjudication process while living and working in the United States. Many never intended to return home. The asylum backlog effectively becomes an amnesty program by another name.
Revoking these visas won’t result in immediate deportation for everyone affected. Instead, some pending asylum applications will shift from what’s called the affirmative asylum process to the defensive process. That means applicants will have to make their cases before immigration judges while facing active removal proceedings. A much tougher road.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, his administration has moved aggressively to tighten legal immigration programs across the board. Officials have already revoked roughly 175,000 visas tied to individuals accused or convicted of crimes.
The latest effort also takes aim at birth tourism schemes. Federal officials are targeting operations that coach foreigners on how to fraudulently obtain visas specifically to give birth on American soil, securing citizenship for their children.
For millions of Americans who’ve watched the immigration system spiral into chaos over the past decade, these moves represent a long-overdue course correction. The asylum process was designed to protect the genuinely persecuted, not serve as a backdoor for anyone clever enough to exploit it.
Critics will inevitably frame the crackdown as cruel or xenophobic. But the administration’s position is simple: the rules exist for a reason, and those who break them shouldn’t be rewarded with permanent residency.
The State Department is expected to formally announce the initiative soon.
