The State Department last year denied 1,338 nonimmigrant visa applications in 2017 because of President Trump’s controversial immigration executive actions, just a small fraction of 1 percent of the 2.8 million applications it received that year, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday.
Through two executive orders and a proclamation, the Trump administration introduced a series of highly scrutinized immigration policy changes. Chief among them was its so-called travel ban, upheld by the Supreme Court in June, which restricted certain foreign nationals’ entry into the United States. Trump also imposed tougher screening and vetting standards and procedures, and gave the State Department funding to roll-out a new form asking applicants for their social media handles.
