The Trump administration will begin reviewing all 55 million US visa holders to see if any have committed deportable offenses.
Any immigrants holding US visas found with “indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization” will have their permits to live in the US revoked and be deported, the State Department announced Thursday.
State Department representatives told the Associated Press all US visa holders are subject to “continuous vetting” intended to identify deportable offenses.
The Trump administration has announced they are reviewing all 55 million US visa holders currently in the United States.
“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 said.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration has begun cracking down on the visa system, with particular scrutiny cast on the nation’s student visa holders.
Since Trump took office in January, 6,000 student visas have been revoked – with about 4,000 being taken from international students who broke the law.
And the “vast majority” of those people had committed crimes like driving under the influence, burglary or assault, a State Department official previously told The Post.
Upwards of 300 were revoked after holders were found to harbor “support for terrorism” – which the State Department said included “raising funds for the militant group Hamas.”
“Every single student visa revoked under the Trump Administration has happened because the individual has either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism while in the United States,” a State Department official told Fox News.
That crackdown is part of a wider move by President Trump to target illegal immigrants in the US – which has resulted in the first drop in immigrant populations the country has seen in 50 years.
There were 53.3 million immigrants living in the US when Trump was sworn in for his second term in January, a recent Pew Research Center study found.
And as of June, there were 51.9 million – a 1.4 million drop in just about five months