Flew to America on a holiday or business visa and then applied for asylum to stay for good? The US State Department says that loophole is about to slam shut - and up to 200,000 people could lose their visas in what the White House is calling the biggest mass revocation in American history.

Here is the story, as reported by cbinews.tv:

In a major escalation of its immigration crackdown, the Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it will start identifying and revoking the visas of foreigners who entered the US as temporary visitors but later applied for asylum.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott put it bluntly: “Obtaining a visa in order to seek asylum is fraud — which is grounds for visa revocation.”

The White House, in a post on X, claimed the sweep could affect “up to two hundred thousand visas.” The State Department hasn’t confirmed that exact figure, with Pigott adding that “the number of revocations remains dynamic and will be done on a rolling basis” in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.

Why this is happening - and why it’s such a big deal

This is just the latest move in President Donald Trump’s signature second-term push to reduce both illegal and legal immigration, a promise that helped propel him back to the White House in January 2025.

To put some numbers on it: earlier this month, the State Department said it had already revoked some 175,000 visas since Trump returned to office, for reasons ranging from criminal offences like drink-driving to, controversially, praising the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

And it’s not just asylum seekers in the firing line. The administration has also recently revoked visas for a number of Mexican officials, including the son of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, prompting a formal complaint from current President Claudia Sheinbaum.

A bit of background for you:

Historically, the US has allowed people who are already on American soil - even on a B1/B2 tourist or business visa - to apply for asylum if they claim a well-founded fear of persecution back home. It’s a protection rooted in post-Second World War international law and the 1980 Refugee Act.

What’s changed is the interpretation. The administration argues that applying for a temporary visitor visa with the intention of claiming asylum is misrepresentation - essentially, visa fraud.

Critics will argue this conflates two different things, while supporters say it restores integrity to a system where, according to DHS data, asylum claims have soared from under 100,000 a year a decade ago to well over a million pending cases today.

It’s worth remembering this isn’t happening in a vacuum. Last Friday, a federal judge actually struck down a separate administration ban that would have blocked immigrant visas for nationals from 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Thailand and Yemen. So, expect this latest plan to face a swift legal challenge as well.

And there’s more coming down the track. The State Department has confirmed it plans to expand vetting of the social media accounts of all visa applicants, doubling down on its message that, as Pigott said on Tuesday: “We are making clear that a visa is a privilege — not a right.”

Credit: cbinews.tv

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