The U.S. State Department announced this week it has revoked 175,000 visas during President Donald Trump’s second term, targeting several foreign criminals ignored under the Biden regime.
The Trump administration has framed visa revocations as a national security measure and continues to go after foreign nationals who break the law, call for violence against the U.S. or pose a national security threat.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s leadership, the State Department will continue to identify, investigate, and revoke the visas of foreign nationals who threaten the safety of the American people,” the State Department said.
Since his confirmation, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has maintained “a U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right.”
Early on, the State Department went after visa holders believed to be behind the disruptive pro-Palestinian protests and campus sit-ins, including Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University.
The Department is committed to using “every tool available to protect the American people,” the State Department shared on social media.
Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s leadership, the Department of State has revoked more than 175,000 visas from foreign nationals who violated the terms of their visas.
We remain committed to using every tool available to protect the American people. pic.twitter.com/Ip6uX2RNt2
— Department of State (@StateDept) August 10, 2026
Cancellations increased from 8,000 a month in 2025 to 10,000 a month in 2026. Most visa revocations stem from foreigners with “law enforcement encounters for a range of criminal activity” or travelers who overstayed their visas, the State Department said.
The most common crimes involve assault, driving under the influence, theft, and drug crimes. The State Department also reported visa revocations for reckless driving, fraud, sexual assault and child abuse.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott appeared on several news networks and said visas are continually being reviewed under the department’s rigorous vetting program, with DUIs among the primary criminal offenses prompting action against foreign nationals.
“We are not going to tolerate foreigners here on visas that drive drunk on our streets, that assault our people, that steal from our stores — that is common sense,” Pigott said on Newsmax’ “National Report.”
He told Fox News that foreign drunk drivers could face a swift removal out of country under Trump’s “America First” crackdown. He cited two cases involving DUI offenses, including a foreign national who injured someone while driving drunk and another who showed up intoxicated to a court-mandated DUI program.
“Fundamentally, if you break the law, that is grounds for revocation,” Pigott told Fox. “If you break law, you break terms of your visa, or you undermine the national security of the United States, that’s grounds for a revocation of your visas.”
The State Department’s Continuous Vetting Center is behind the visa crackdown. It monitors all 55 million foreign nationals with valid U.S. visas, checking criminal records, immigration history and other databases in real time.
“Should any information come to light indicating ineligibility, the visa will be revoked,” the State Department stated.
The Biden administration let a foreign national charged with assaulting a mentally disabled victim keep his visa, which the Trump administration canceled. In all of 2024, his State Department revoked 40,000.
In another case, officials revoked the visa of a foreign national charged with felony kidnapping, human trafficking and sexual exploitation of a minor,” according to Fox News.
Among the cancellations were “multiple foreign nationals who celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” a prominent political activist who was assassinated in September 2025, the State Department said.
Visas were revoked for individuals who stated “when fascists die, democrats don’t complain,” and another who said Kirk “died too late,” The Hill reported.
Others had their visa revoked on “foreign policy grounds,” including foreign nationals from Cuba for ties to the communist regime.
State department officials have targeted Iranians in the U.S. with ties to the Iranian regime, including social media influencers and other sympathizers, and a Kuwaiti national who “wished for violence against” the president and U.S. and called Americans his “enemy,” the State Department said.
In April 2026, immigration officials detained Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, the niece of slain Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, and her daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, in Los Angeles after Rubio revoked their green cards over social media posts supporting the Iranian regime.
However, whether a foreign national is deported depends on whether the Justice Department pursues criminal prosecution, Pigott said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security decides on the next step of appropriate action, whether that’s immediate removal or deportation after serving a prison sentence, “so it really is a case-by-case basis,” Pigott said. Visa revocation gets the ball rolling.
The State Department is also working to dismantle birth tourism networks, which coach foreigners on how to obtain visas specifically to come to America to give birth so their children can claim U.S. citizenship.
A U.S. Embassy in North Africa revoked more than 100 visas for “birth tourist” parents who came to the U.S. primarily to give birth so their children would gain U.S. citizenship, State Department officials said.
