Lying to the government should not be any immigrant‘s method of entry into the United States, which is why the Trump administration’s proposed plan to revoke the tourist and business visas of approximately 200,000 asylum applicants is important and the right thing to do.
“We are coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott explained this week, adding, “These types of visas are issued with the clear understanding that they are for those who intend to return home.”
Recommended Stories
Pigott was referring to B-1 and B-2 visas. The former are awarded to foreigners for temporary business trips; the latter for temporary tourism and family visits. To qualify, applicants must convince a consular officer that they have a residence abroad and do not intend to abandon it, that they plan to remain in the U.S. for only a limited period, and that they intend to leave when the visit is over.
Those requirements are shredded when the possessor of such a visa makes an asylum claim after coming to this country. Someone who tells a U.S. consular officer that he plans only a temporary visit and does not fear going home, then arrives here and immediately claims he cannot return because he fears persecution, has given the government two incompatible stories. To put it plainly, they have lied. Such migrants have obtained their visa under false pretenses to gain a foothold and pursue permanent residence. No one who deliberately abuses the immigration system should be welcome in this country.
If the businessmen and tourists on B-1 and B-2 visas are in real danger, there is a lawful channel for them to apply for protection. They can seek refugee protection and, where appropriate, referral to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or another authorized organization. Asylum is available only to people already present in the U.S. — it is not an application filed at an embassy overseas. A tourist visa must not be a back door around the refugee system.
Those whose visas are revoked will not be rounded up and deported immediately, nor will revocation automatically kill their pending asylum claims. But it does fundamentally change the calculation. Once their B-1 or B-2 visas are revoked, they become deportable under federal law, meaning they can either remain in the country and fight their asylum cases through removal proceedings or leave voluntarily before that.
The Trump administration is making the latter choice attractive: Through Customs and Border Protection’s Home program, eligible immigrants who agree to leave can receive a free flight home and a $2,600 exit bonus while preserving the possibility of returning through legal channels. Those who instead remain and lose their asylum claims face arrest, removal, and the consequences that come with a formal removal order. For applicants whose asylum claims were merely a way to extend what was supposed to be a temporary visit, which is doubtless the majority or most of B-1 and B-2 asylum-seekers, that is a powerful reason to go home voluntarily.
The visa revocation plan is part of a welcome larger change in immigration enforcement. Gone are the theatrics that defined the tenure of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the confrontational approach pushed by White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller. In their place is a quieter competence associated with White House border czar Tom Homan: enforcing the law, arresting people who should not be here, and avoiding turning every operation into a televised showdown. The administration has moved away from the highly visible, city-by-city surges of last year toward more orderly enforcement.
The results speak for themselves. During Operation Safe Community, conducted this month across Virginia and Maryland, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 1,328 illegal immigrants. These included a Guatemalan man convicted of rape and aggravated sexual battery, a Jamaican with kidnapping and identity-theft convictions, and a Mexican whose record included aggravated sexual battery. The operation was largely over before the public knew it had happened.
GAVIN NEWSOM’S TIRE MANDATE ROLLS OVER CONSUMERS
Compare that with the highly visible surges in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Chicago that drew protesters, heightened tensions, and put officers, immigrants, and bystanders at risk. Immigration enforcement is law enforcement, not political theater. Success should be measured in lawful arrests and removals, not cable-news footage.
Trump won reelection in large part because voters trusted him on immigration. The administration is finally showing what disciplined, common-sense enforcement can look like. One wonders how much stronger Trump’s immigration polling would be today if the adults had been in charge from the beginning.
