American flags are lowered to half-staff around the Washington Monument in honor of Dolly Parton's passing on August 25, 2026 . [AFP]
The US government plans to revoke the visas of foreigners who came to the country for tourism or business but sought to stay longer by applying for asylum, the State Department said Tuesday.
The crackdown marks another step in the Trump administration's signature drive to reduce immigration into the United States.
The administration said it is now working with the Department of Homeland Security to identify and revoke the visas of people who, it said, came to America billing themselves as temporary visitors but then applied for asylum so they could stay permanently.
"Obtaining a visa in order to seek asylum is fraud -- which is grounds for visa revocation," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement that confirmed press reports about the new policy.
The White House, in a post on X, suggested "up to two hundred thousand visas" would be affected and claimed it would be the "largest mass visa revocation in history."
The State Department neither confirmed nor denied that number. Pigott said, "The number of revocations remains dynamic and will be done on a rolling basis."