It emerged that the U.S. administration of Donald Trump has canceled more than 175,000 foreign visas since taking office, citing involvement in crimes and other reasons. The canceled cases included visas issued for so-called "birth tourism."
The State Department said in a news release on the 10th (local time) that "the vast majority are related to a variety of crimes, such as assault, drunk or drugged driving, and theft." It said visas of foreigners involved in reckless driving, sex crimes, child abuse, fraud, and embezzlement were also canceled.
There were also cases in which visas were canceled for political remarks. The visas of foreigners who said things like "died too late" at the time of the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk were canceled.
Foreigners who committed sex crimes, as well as those who caused a disturbance and responded violently during arrest, were also subject to visa cancellation.
There were also cases in which deportation was decided for foreign policy reasons. The State Department said it would deport Iranian and Cuban nationals linked to their home regimes; a Laotian national convicted of child sex crimes who was pardoned by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; and a Kuwaiti national who incited violence against the U.S. president and called Americans the enemy.
Walz ran as the running mate of Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, in the last U.S. presidential election. President Trump has labeled Minnesota a hotbed of illegal immigration and fraud and has carried out sweeping crackdowns.
Among the roughly 10 specific cases disclosed by the State Department were cancellations of visas issued for so-called "birth tourism" aimed at obtaining U.S. citizenship for children. At a U.S. embassy in North Africa, more than 100 visas intended to secure U.S. citizenship for children were canceled.
Under a hard-line immigration policy stance, the Trump administration has been repeatedly changing related systems to tighten the requirements for foreigners to stay in the United States. After the Supreme Court blocked an attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, which automatically grants citizenship to people born in the United States, the administration recently limited birth tourism by expanding the exclusions to citizenship grants.