The Trump administration is preparing to cancel 200,000 immigration visas nationwide, in what could be the largest revocation effort in U.S. history, according to an administration source familiar with the policy who was not authorized to speak on the record.
But experts suggest that the revocation, while potentially precedent setting, is largely performative.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott says the agency is identifying and revoking the visas of immigrants who came to the U.S. claiming to be short-term visitors either for tourism or business, but then filed for asylum.
"Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio's leadership, we are making clear that a visa is a privilege — not a right. ... Obtaining a visa in order to seek asylum is fraud — which is grounds for visa revocation. This is an ongoing process as we uphold the integrity of our visa and asylum laws," Pigott said in an email.
The 200,000 revocations will not happen in one fell swoop, but on a rolling basis, the administration source said.
Immigration attorney Nicolette Glazer, however, called the announcement an "empty effort."
"It doesn't have any consequences," Glazer said.
If an immigrant overstays their short-term visa, they are already breaking the law, Glazer said. So, this new policy is not making it easier to deport anyone — it's just revoking visas that are already invalid.
But Glazer says this could affect people who have been in the U.S. for a long time, and have established roots here, including by having U.S. citizen children.
She says there's a narrative that people apply for asylum to buy time so they can qualify for an adjustment of status, especially if they have a children who were born in the U.S.
"I think it's just the political spin, and my suspicion is this is an extension of the birth tourism rhetoric that they're pushing now," Glazer said. "The law already says if they're overstayed, they're deportable."
Fraud does happen in the immigration system — that's when someone misrepresents material facts to get a benefit or a status they would not be eligible for otherwise. But a 2015 report from the Government Accountability Office from shows that termination of asylum cases due to fraud isn't common.
In arguing that fraud is rampant in the system, the State Department has pointed to the case of a Colombian national who came to the U.S. in 2015.
A few months before his stay was due to expire, he applied for political asylum.
Activist Beto Coral was deported to Colombia in July. While in the U.S., he supported a leftist Colombian presidential candidate and he spoke out against the right-wing candidate — who is now president — Abelardo de la Espriella. De La Espriella was backed by the Trump administration.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau posted on X Monday that if Coral's case, "isn't a perfect example of the dysfunction and abuse of our asylum system, I don't know what is."
State Department Correspondent Michele Kelemen in Washington contributed to this report.
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