US Revokes Over 175,000 Visas Under Trump, Citing Crime, Fraud, and Security Threats
The US State Department announced on August 10, 2026 that it has revoked more than 175,000 visas from foreign nationals under President Donald Trump, citing criminal activity, visa fraud, national security threats, and immigration violations. The figure, released in a department fact sheet and press release, marks a sharp increase from the 100,000 revocations reported in January 2026 and the approximately 80,000 non-immigrant visas cancelled as of November 2025 (Al Jazeera; BBC Pidgin; US State Department).
A visa is a document granting a foreign national permission to enter, stay, or work in the United States for a specific purpose and period. Revoking one means the government cancels that permission, often making the visa holder deportable — subject to removal from the country.
What Drove the Revocations
The department said most cancellations stemmed from law-enforcement encounters involving criminal activity, along with visa violations, fraud, calls for violence, and other threats to national security. Assault, driving under the influence, theft, and drug offenses were among the leading categories. A significant share of visas were also revoked for reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse, fraud, and embezzlement (Al Jazeera; Four States Homepage; The Cable NG).
Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that numerous foreign nationals are deportable on foreign policy grounds, according to the State Department's official release. The cases named include a Cuban national connected to a Cuban communist regime influence operation, Iranian nationals with connections to the Iranian regime, a Laotian child sex offender pardoned by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and a Kuwaiti national who wished for violence against the President and called Americans his "enemy" (US State Department).
The department detailed several individual cases. One visa holder was charged with felony rape and sexual battery; another faced kidnapping and human trafficking charges; a third was charged with more than a dozen counts of possessing child sexual abuse material. Additional revocations targeted a foreign national arrested for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest with violence, drunk driving, and domestic violence; another charged with sodomy of a child and aggravated sexual battery; and one arrested for driving with heroin and a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit. The department also revoked a visa from a foreign national who claimed to operate a legitimate business helping vulnerable patients access healthcare but allegedly helped orchestrate a Medicaid scam billing for over $5 million in fake services. Another individual faked revenue and used forged letters and false claims to fraudulently secure a visa, swindling millions from investors. A foreign national who came to the United States to teach young students was arrested for sexually assaulting one of them (US State Department; Al Jazeera).
A US embassy in North Africa revoked more than 100 visas from "birth tourist" parents who allegedly came to the United States primarily to give birth so their children would receive US citizenship. Some revocations also involved foreign nationals who publicly celebrated the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. One individual stated "when fascists die, democrats don't complain" and another said he "died too late" (Al Jazeera).
The Enforcement Mechanism
The State Department said the revocations resulted from its continuous vetting operations — a system designed to monitor visa holders after their visas are issued, rather than treating approval as a one-time decision. "A US visa is a privilege, not a right," the department stated, adding that it would continue using available authorities to revoke visas from people who abuse that privilege. The administration said it would continue identifying and investigating foreign nationals it believes threaten US safety or national security (Al Jazeera; US State Department).
The trajectory of these numbers tells its own story. From roughly 80,000 cancellations by November 2025 to 100,000 by January 2026, and now 175,000 by August 2026, the pace of revocations has accelerated rather than plateaued. Continuous vetting relies on law-enforcement encounter data, meaning the caseload grows in proportion to both the screening infrastructure's reach and the threshold the department sets for pulling a visa.
The broader context here is that the inclusion of Rubio's foreign-policy-grounded deportability determinations adds a separate legal track. Visa revocation for criminal conduct operates under existing immigration statutes, but deportability on foreign policy grounds invokes broader executive authority over who can be admitted to or removed from the country. The named cases touching foreign influence operations and regime connections signal that the department is folding counterintelligence and foreign policy considerations into what might otherwise look like a straightforward law-enforcement action.
The "birth tourism" revocations and the cases involving public statements celebrating violence raise distinct questions. The former targets a category of visa misuse that has drawn legislative and executive attention across multiple administrations. The latter suggests the department is treating public expression perceived as endorsing political violence as a basis for visa cancellation, a posture that civil liberties advocates have previously argued risks chilling protected speech, though the department frames such statements as threats to national security.
