WASHINGTON: The United States has revoked more than 100,000 visas since President Donald Trump took office on an anti-migrant platform, a record for a single year, the State Department said Monday.
“The Trump administration has no higher priority than protecting American citizens and upholding American sovereignty,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
The figure since Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, 2025 is two and a half times the number revoked in 2024, when Joe Biden was president.
The State Department said that “thousands” of the visas were revoked over crimes, which can include assault and also drunk driving.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has proudly highlighted his revocation of visas from students who protested against Israel.
Rubio used a McCarthy-era law that allows the United States to block entry to foreigners seen as going against US foreign policy, although some of his high-profile targets successfully challenged deportation orders in court.
The State Department said 8,000 of the revoked visas were for students.
The Trump administration has also tightened vetting for visas, including moving to screen social media postings of visitors.
The visa revocations are part of a wider campaign of mass deportations, carried out aggressively through a surge of federal agents.
The Department of Homeland Security last month said that the Trump administration has deported more than 605,000 people, and that 2.5 million others left on their own.
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US says revoked 100,000 visas since Trump return
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US says revoked 100,000 visas since Trump return
- The figure is two and a half times the number revoked in 2024, when Joe Biden was president
- The State Department said 8,000 of the revoked visas were for students
Venezuelan opposition leader Machado says a close ally was kidnapped hours after prison release
- Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says one of her closest allies has been kidnapped hours after being released from prison
- The government had released several prominent opposition members from prison Sunday after lengthy politically motivated detentions
CARACAS: Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Monday said one of her closest allies was kidnapped hours after being released from prison.
The government had released several prominent opposition members from prison Sunday after lengthy politically motivated detentions.
Machado said on social media that Juan Pablo Guanipa was taken around midnight in a residential neighborhood of the capital, Caracas.
“Heavily armed men, dressed in civilian clothes, arrived in four vehicles and violently took him away,” she posted on X. “We demand his immediate release.”
The releases of the opposition figures came as the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez has faced mounting pressure to free hundreds of people whose detentions months or years ago have been linked to their political activities. The releases also followed a visit to Venezuela of representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The government’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.
Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president after the Jan. 3 capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the US military. Her government began releasing prisoners days later.
Some of those freed Sunday joined families waiting outside prisons for their loved ones to be released. They chanted “We are not afraid! We are not afraid!” and marched a short distance.
“I am convinced that our country has completely changed,” Guanipa, a former governor, had told reporters hours after his release. “I am convinced that it is now up to all of us to focus on building a free and democratic country.”
Guanipa had spent more than eight months in custody.
The government had released several prominent opposition members from prison Sunday after lengthy politically motivated detentions.
Machado said on social media that Juan Pablo Guanipa was taken around midnight in a residential neighborhood of the capital, Caracas.
“Heavily armed men, dressed in civilian clothes, arrived in four vehicles and violently took him away,” she posted on X. “We demand his immediate release.”
The releases of the opposition figures came as the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez has faced mounting pressure to free hundreds of people whose detentions months or years ago have been linked to their political activities. The releases also followed a visit to Venezuela of representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The government’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.
Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president after the Jan. 3 capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the US military. Her government began releasing prisoners days later.
Some of those freed Sunday joined families waiting outside prisons for their loved ones to be released. They chanted “We are not afraid! We are not afraid!” and marched a short distance.
“I am convinced that our country has completely changed,” Guanipa, a former governor, had told reporters hours after his release. “I am convinced that it is now up to all of us to focus on building a free and democratic country.”
Guanipa had spent more than eight months in custody.
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