Trump administration revoked more than 100,000 visas in one year

Ema Alice: The Trump administration has revoked over 100,000 visas in less than a year, Tommy Pigott, the State Department‘s deputy spokesperson, said in a post on X on Monday.

“That includes revoked visas from thousands of foreign nationals charged or convicted with crimes, including assault, theft, and driving under the influence,” he continued. The number of visas revoked in 2025 is a record and more than double those revoked under President Joe Biden in 2024, according to a report from Fox News.

Newsweek reached out to the Department of State for comment via contact form Monday morning. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deferred to the Department of State when asked for additional comment. 

President Donald Trump returned to the White House last January on a promise of deporting millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally and his administration has also taken a tougher stance against those with, or seeking, legal status. Immigration enforcement falls under DHS, but the State Department is responsible for initial visa issuances, and it was under Secretary of State Marco Rubio that efforts to revoke visas dramatically increased, creating more immigrants without legal status.

The State Department told Fox News that the revocations were mostly for travelers who overstayed on business or tourist visas. Other revocations included people on drunk driving arrests, assault charges and other charges including theft, child abuse and fraud.

The report noted that almost 500 students lost their visas due to drug possession and distribution. According to the report, the 100,000 revocations set a new record, with 2024 seeing 40,000 visas pulled under Biden. However, official statistics on immigration have been harder to come by under the Trump administration, and it was not immediately clear how many of those former visa holders have left the U.S.

The federal government has the right to revoke visas through a broad range of discretionary powers and while that has been the case for many years, the Trump administration has cracked down on those with minor infractions that may in the past have meant foreign nationals could keep their legal status—such as parking tickets and DUIs.

In 2025, Rubio said his department would revoke student visas for those linked to pro-Hamas actions on campuses across the country—largely those taking part in pro-Palestine rallies—and took status away from those who were seen to have celebrated conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk’s murder in Utah. The administration has faced sharp criticism from immigration attorneys and advocates, as well as some Democrats, who see these actions as a way to create more immigrants eligible for deportation, after Trump set an ambitious target of over 10 million deportations across his second term.

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