Trump administration preparing to revoke visas of up to 200K foreigners in largest mass visa revocation ever
The Hill · C · trust 69/100
Comments: by Ryan Mancini - 08/24/26 6:58 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Ryan Mancini - 08/24/26 6:58 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING The Trump administration is preparing to revoke business and tourism visas from up to 200,000 migrants who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum in the U.S. on a rolling basis — a move that would trigger the largest mass visa revocation ever, The Associated Press reported Monday.
The State Department is expected to announce the revocation, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of B1 and B2 visas issued since 2016, according to two U.S. officials and department documents obtained by the AP.
“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 spokesperson Tommy Pigott told The Hill.
Pigott declined to comment on the number of visa revocations and said that the “number of revocations remains dynamic and will be done on a rolling basis.”
The officials told the AP that revoking the visas will not result in immediate deportation, with pending asylum cases recategorized to no longer be for business or tourism travelers.
“People in the U.S. and all over the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote on social media Monday. “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 added that the asylum system “has long been swamped by frivolous asylum claims, meaning that it takes years to adjudicate whether applicants are actually entitled to asylum—during which time they can typically work, have children, and otherwise put down roots in our country.”
Current B1 and B2 visa applicants are asked to affirm that they will not apply for asylum and prove that they plan to return to their home countries.
President Trump has sought to ramp up restrictions on visas for asylum applicants since he returned to the White House last year. Since then, the State Department has revoked about 175,000 visas for people convicted or accused of various crimes, as well as for those who have spoken out against U.S. policies in the Middle East.
Last month, the Trump administration started to cut off asylum seekers’ access to interviews to weigh their claims, instead allowing officers to funnel migrants into immigration court for deportation proceedings. Migrants could be quickly funneled into the immigration court system without a chance to make their case to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
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