Trump Admin Halts Visas For Nearly All Palestinian Passport Holders
'It is in our national security interests'
Trump admin to vet all visa holders — revoke and deport threats to America
President Donald Trump's administration is strengthening its vetting of foreign nationals in the United States.
On Thursday, the State Department announced plans to review all of the more than 55 million current visa holders. Those individuals are subject to "continuous vetting" to ensure that they are permitted to be in the U.S., the department told the Associated Press.
'[A quarter] of the country is foreign but the corporate class says we still need more.'
The audit will include looking for indicators of potential ineligibility, including overstays, criminal activity, public safety threats, and ties to terrorist activity. In the event the State Department determines an individual is ineligible, their visa will be revoked, and if they are currently in the U.S., they could be subject to deportation.
"We review all available information as part of our vetting, including law enforcement or immigration records or any other information that comes to light after visa issuance indicating a potential ineligibility," the department stated.
The State Department has already revoked "more than twice as many visas, including nearly four times as many student visas, as during the same time period last year," a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
"There is no national sovereignty in a country with 55 million people on visas and another 50 million illegals without them. Our entire system is a joke," BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre wrote in a post on social media.
William Wolfe, the executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership, responded to MacIntyre, stating, "100 million must go back."
Since the 1970s, the U.S. has "on a roughly one-to-one ratio, traded an aborted American citizen baby for an imported foreigner," Wolfe noted.
Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, stated, "55 million legal. 20 million illegal. [A quarter] of the country is foreign but the corporate class says we still need more. Their 'need' will never be satisfied. They must be completely ignored and never taken seriously again."
RELATED: Rubio takes action to prevent more foreigners from 'endangering American lives' with big rigs
The same day that the State Department announced its plans to review all visa holders, Secretary Marco Rubio declared an immediate pause on "all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers."
"The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers," Rubio stated.
His announcement came after a crash in Florida last week involving an illegal alien truck driver. The driver made an illegal U-turn, which caused the trailer to jackknife and crush a minivan, resulting in the death of all three passengers inside.
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Rubio takes action to prevent more foreigners from 'endangering American lives' with big rigs
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that his department was immediately pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers.
"The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers," wrote Rubio.
Concerns over foreigners driving big rigs on American roads came to a head on Saturday after Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old illegal alien from India, allegedly killed three people on the Florida Turnpike near Fort Pierce while driving a tractor-trailer.
According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, "It is evident that the driver of the commercial semi-truck recklessly, and without regard for the safety of others, attempted to execute a U-turn utilizing an unauthorized location. As a result of his actions, the three occupants of the minivan are now deceased."
Singh, who has been charged with three counts of vehicular homicide, reportedly stole into the country in 2018 and, despite getting fast-tracked for deportation by the first Trump administration, managed to stick around.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced on Tuesday that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration launched an investigation into the crash.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has confirmed that Singh was granted a regular full-term commercial driver's license in Washington State on July 15, 2023. Almost exactly a year later, Singh was issued a limited-term/non-domiciled commercial driver's license in Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom's California.
While Singh was issued a speeding ticket by New Mexico State Police in July, the DOT indicated that there is no indication that an English language proficiency assessment was conducted, despite the requirement being in effect since June 25.
During his post-crash Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration interview, Singh flunked the ELP assessment, providing correct responses to only two of 12 verbal questions and only accurately identifying one of 4 highway traffic signs.
"If states had followed the rules, this driver would never have been behind the wheel and three precious lives would still be with us," said Duffy. "This crash was a preventable tragedy directly caused by reckless decisions and compounded by despicable failures. Non-enforcement and radical immigration policies have turned the trucking industry into a lawless frontier, resulting in unqualified foreign drivers improperly acquiring licenses to operate 40-ton vehicles."
'The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads raises serious concerns for public safety.'
The transportation secretary vowed to use every tool at his disposal to hold the offending states and bad actors accountable, stressing that "the families of the deceased deserve justice."
A DOT spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Blaze News that Duffy's department has combined efforts with its partners in the Departments of Homeland Security and State Department "to keep our roads safe."
"This administration is pulling every lever to deliver on President Trump’s promise to keep the American people safe and restore common sense in our country," said the DOT spokesperson. "Foreign drivers must be able to comply with American rules on American roads. That’s common sense."
While America's roads fall under Duffy's purview, Rubio has the ability to prevent foreign nationals from coming to the U.S. for the purpose of driving big rigs.
A State Department spokesperson told Blaze News that "detecting and preventing entry of individuals who pose a threat to U.S. national security or public safety is critical to protecting Americans in our homeland."
RELATED: Trump admin raises the bar for who can become a US citizen
"The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads raises serious concerns for public safety and threatens the livelihoods of American truckers," continued the spokesperson. "We are taking this action to protect American lives and safeguard U.S. national security and foreign policy interests."
With the safety of American citizens in mind, the State Department will not — for the foreseeable future — process work visas for applicants who seek to operate commercial trucks in the U.S. This pause will afford the Departments of State, Labor, and Homeland Security time to consider and make necessary updates to their relevant screening and vetting protocols.
The pause in visa processing applies to applicants of all nationalities who seek to operate commercial trucks in the H-2B, E-2, and EB-3 visa classifications.
Applicants who do not presently hold valid visas will undergo thorough vetting. Those who fail to make the cut will have their petitions returned to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or be denied a visa.
"The Department will take all necessary steps to protect public safety, including on America’s roads," said the State Department spokesperson.
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'A more direct solution': State Department rolls out key strategy to prevent foreigners from overstaying their welcome
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office titled "Protecting the American People Against Invasion."
In addition to directing all executive departments and agencies to "employ all lawful means to ensure the faithful execution of the immigration laws of the United States against all inadmissible and removable aliens," the president tasked the secretaries of treasury, state, and homeland security to establish a visa bond program.
Pursuant to Trump's executive order, the State Department published a temporary final rule in the Federal Register on Tuesday announcing the commencement of a 12-month visa bond pilot program aimed at ensuring that foreign nationals pay a hefty price if they overstay their welcome.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified State Department employees of the program in a cable on Monday.
A State Department spokesperson told Blaze News, "The pilot reinforces the Trump administration’s commitment to enforcing U.S. immigration laws and safeguarding U.S. national security.
Under the program, consular officers can require aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure to post bonds of up to $15,000 if they hail from countries identified by the State Department as having high visa overstay rates, substandard screening and vetting information, or offering citizenship by investment.
According to the State Department spokesperson, foreign policy considerations may also be factored into whether a bond is required.
By overstaying a visa, an alien could forfeit the bond as well as risk the usual consequences: a three-year, a 10-year, or an indefinite ban from the country, depending on the duration of unlawful presence.
The pilot program — established under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which authorizes consular officers to require aliens to post a bond for a B-1/B-2 visitor/tourist visa — is effective from Aug. 20, 2025, until Aug. 5, 2026.
'With their own money on the line, more temporary visa holders will comply with their required departure date.'
"In line with an America First foreign policy, fully enforcing U.S. immigration laws bolsters American security, promotes lawful travel, and ensures foreign visitors depart the United States on time and in accordance with the terms of their visas," said the spokesperson.
Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation's Border Security and Immigration Center, told Blaze News, "Large numbers of visa-overstayers have been a problem in our country for decades. The U.S. government should use various tools to end this abuse of our legal visa system."
"President Trump has issued visa restrictions for a few countries with high overstay rates. Applying visa sanctions is another tool that the State Department can use against countries with high overstay rates," continued Ries. "Requiring travelers to post a bond is a more direct solution tied to the individual rather than a country, since it is the individual deciding to ignore our law to depart the U.S. on time. With their own money on the line, more temporary visa holders will comply with their required departure date, so it would be an effective tool in that regard."
Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Border Security and Immigration Center who worked for the State Department for over two decades, told Blaze News that the program is "great," though he does not want it exploited to grant questionable applicants a visa.
"Consular officers should refuse any applicant who does not qualify for a visa," continued Hankinson. "In most cases, that means they fail to convince the officer that they have a home outside the U.S. that they intend to return to and that they will do what they say in the U.S. and nothing more."
While the State Department would not immediately disclose which countries may be affected, past visa overstay data indicates which countries would be prime candidates.
RELATED: State Department finally gets to trim the bureaucratic fat — and Rubio's going the distance
According to a 2024 U.S. Customs and Border Protection "Entry/Exit Overstay Report," there were over 314,000 overstays by business or pleasure visitors from non-Visa Waiver Program countries in fiscal year 2023, not including the 79,443 overstays by nonimmigrant visitors from Canada and Mexico.
There were an additional 99,460 overstays by business or pleasure visitors from VWP countries.
Among the worst offenders for B1/B2 visa overstays among non-VWP countries in terms of total overstays were Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, and Venezuela.
When asked which countries should be at the top of the list, Hankinson said that countries with high rates of fraud in applications or of overstay/abuse rates might be a place to start but that he saw "no reason the bonds could not eventually cover every country, for at least high-risk visa categories."
'The left, libertarians, and anyone with a business interest in open borders want no limits.'
"The bond should be much higher than the typical price for that category and country for an alien smuggler to bring someone in illegally, or else it won’t work as a deterrent," added Hankinson.
Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies at the Cato Institute, complained in a statement obtained by CBS News that the program "will convince most foreigners not to bother coming."
"The result will be a decimated tourist industry. Tourists spend over $200 billion annually in the U.S., spending that counts as exports," continued Nowrasteh. "The administration's proposal will not only undermine much of the tourist industry, but it will counteract the administration's goals to reduce the trade deficit."
A spokesperson for the U.S. Travel Association similarly whined about the program, noting, "If this is implemented, the U.S. will have one of, if not the highest, visitor visa fees in the world."
Neither Hankinson nor Ries is buying the line sold by such critics.
"The left, libertarians, and anyone with a business interest in open borders want no limits. Americans reject this as selfish and self-destructive," said Hankinson, adding that if properly applied, the visa bonds will minimally impact tourism and the countries from which most tourists hail.
Ries suggested that "instead of just complaining about the government trying to end a long and serious violation of our law, cities and companies that rely on tourism should encourage visitors to comply with our laws and depart when required."
"That simple addition would help to end the visa overstay issue," added Ries.
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Rubio's State Department slams door on British band after anti-Israel rant at music fest
The upcoming U.S. tour for a British punk-rap duo is now in doubt after the U.S. State Department revoked the bandmates' visas following an anti-Israel rant at Glastonbury last weekend.
On Saturday, Bob Vylan — composed of Bobby Vylan, aka Pascal Robinson-Foster, and drummer Bobbie Vylan — took the stage at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England, one of the most popular music events in the world. There, with a Palestinian flag adorning a banner with his band's name in the background, front man Bobby Vylan made clear that his group supports the Palestinian cause and wishes "death" upon members of the Israel Defense Forces.
'I said what I said.'
"All right, but have you heard this one, though? 'Death, death to the IDF,'" Vylan said.
After the audience dutifully chanted, "Death, death to the IDF," over and over and enthusiastically waved Palestinian flags, Vylan added, "Hell yeah. From the river to the sea, Palestine must be, will be — inshallah — it will be free!"
Video of the speech can be seen here.
Response to the rant from Bobby Vylan was swift and fierce. Glastonbury Festival organizer Emily Eavis posted to social media that she was "appalled" by Vylan's words.
"Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the Festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech, or incitement to violence," she said.
The BBC, which streamed the Bob Vylan performance live, later expressed "regret" for not pulling the livestream. "The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence," the BBC said in a statement, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "The anti-Semitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury’s condemnation of the performance."
The U.S. State Department likewise took notice of Vylan's speech and immediately moved to block visas for both Bobby and Bobbie Vylan.
"The @StateDept has revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants," Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau posted to X on Monday. "Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country."
RELATED: Rubio to 'aggressively' revoke Chinese nationals' student visas to eviscerate CCP's spy invasion
— (@)
Bob Vylan is scheduled to perform on this side of the Atlantic Ocean later this year, kicking off a 16-stop North American tour with a gig in Spokane, Washington, in October. The revoked visas likely put this tour in jeopardy.
For the moment, Bobby Vylan appears unfazed by all the "support and hatred" he has received since the stunt. In an Instagram post on Sunday, he encouraged parents to demonstrate in the streets and model political activism for their children.
"It is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us," his lengthy statement read in part. "Let us display to them loudly and visibly the right thing to do when we want and need change. Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered."
He later commented: "I said what I said."
Vylan also posted, "While Zionists are crying on socials, I’ve just had late night (vegan) ice cream," according to the U.K. Standard.
RELATED: Rubio not taking guff from ICC — hammers foreign judges over targeting of US and Israel
Since he became secretary of state earlier this year, Marco Rubio has prioritized removing from the U.S. foreigners who threaten America and American values, especially those who take advantage of the opportunity to study at our prestigious universities.
"If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason why you're coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we're not going to give you a visa," Rubio said back in March.
"We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses."
On his first day back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order vowing to take "forceful and unprecedented steps to combat anti-Semitism," which included revoking foreign student visas and deporting Hamas sympathizers.
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Trump personally took action to bar foreign students' entry to Harvard over security threats. Enter: Obama judge.
The Trump administration has repeatedly taken actions to ensure that Harvard University doesn't remain a haven for foreign radicals, and a meddlesome Obama judge has repeatedly thrown up roadblocks.
The Department of Homeland Security, dissatisfied with Harvard's response to violent and illegal activities by foreign students, announced last month that it would revoke the university's certification for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program that allowed the school to enroll international students.
As this would greatly impact the student body — roughly 7,000 or 27% of which are student foreigners — but, more importantly, the school's bottom line, Harvard sued the administration, claiming that the decision violated the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee, granted a temporary restraining order on May 23.
'Harvard University is no longer a trustworthy steward of international student and exchange visitor programs.'
Aware that there is more than one way to skin a cat, President Donald Trump — whose administration revoked roughly 4,000 student visas in his first 100 days — issued an executive order on Wednesday temporarily suspending the entry into the U.S. of foreign Harvard University students on nonimmigrant F, M, or J visas. The apparent aim of the order was to circumvent the Obama judge's temporary restraining order.
RELATED: Higher ed's shield shatters under Trump's new directive
The president framed the action as an effort to enhance national security, suggesting that Harvard has demonstrated:
- noncompliance with federal law;
- an inability to police its foreign students;
- an apparent unwillingness to disclose information about foreign students' known illegal activity; and
- "extensive entanglements" with foreign powers, communist China in particular.
'Admission to the United States to study at an "elite" American university is a privilege, not a right.'
The White House noted further that Harvard "has failed to adequately address violent anti-Semitic incidents on campus, with many of these agitators found to be foreign students."
Trump concluded that "Harvard University is no longer a trustworthy steward of international student and exchange visitor programs." He suggested further that the consequences of Harvard's many failings "jeopardize the integrity of the entire United States student and exchange visitor visa system, compromise national security, and embolden other institutions to similarly disregard the rule of law."
Attorney General Pam Bondi weighed in, writing, "Admission to the United States to study at an 'elite' American university is a privilege, not a right. This Department of Justice will vigorously defend the President's proclamation suspending the entry of new foreign students at Harvard University based on national security concerns.
The school nevertheless amended its lawsuit — now accusing Trump of pursuing "a government vendetta against Harvard" — and asked for swift action from the Obama judge.
Harvard University President Alan Garber then reassured foreigners that Harvard, which has gobbled up billions of American taxpayer dollars, is a "truly global university community."
Judge Burroughs once again intervened, blocking the president's order and adding to the historic number of nationwide injunctions and temporary restraining orders federal judges have issued since Trump retook office.
Burroughs said in her two-page ruling that a continuation of her May 23 restraining order and a new restraining order against Trump's executive order were "warranted," as the Massachusetts-based school would otherwise face "immediate and irreparable injury."
Following the ruling, Attorney General Pam Bondi's chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, wrote, "Harvard is refusing to provide the federal government with information about crimes and misconduct committed by its foreign students."
"This is a threat to national security and we will vigorously defend @POTUS's proclamation," added Mizelle.
Blaze News reached out to the White House and to the DHS for comment but did not immediately receive responses.
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