The Trump administration on Wednesday introduced that it was indefinitely freezing immigrant visa processing for almost 40 p.c of the world’s international locations, additional intensifying its immigration crackdown as U.S. President Donald Trump gears up for his second 12 months again in workplace.
Beginning Jan. 21, the Trump administration “will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 international locations whose migrants take welfare from the American folks at unacceptable charges,” the State Division wrote in a publish on X. “The freeze will stay lively till the U.S. can make sure that new immigrants is not going to extract wealth from the American folks.”
The Trump administration on Wednesday introduced that it was indefinitely freezing immigrant visa processing for almost 40 p.c of the world’s international locations, additional intensifying its immigration crackdown as U.S. President Donald Trump gears up for his second 12 months again in workplace.
Beginning Jan. 21, the Trump administration “will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 international locations whose migrants take welfare from the American folks at unacceptable charges,” the State Division wrote in a publish on X. “The freeze will stay lively till the U.S. can make sure that new immigrants is not going to extract wealth from the American folks.”
The suspension appears to be restricted to immigrant visas, which might put an applicant on a path to eventual citizenship; the transfer does not appear to use to people in search of short-term visas, resembling momentary employees or tourists.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that immigrants hurt the U.S. financial system, regardless of a mountain of evidence on the contrary.
“Beneath President Trump, we is not going to permit international nationals to abuse America’s immigration system and exploit the generosity of the American folks,” State Division spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a publish on X.
The 75 impacted countries are:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Myanmar, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cuba;
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, North Macedonia;
Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of Congo, Russia, Rwanda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
The transfer marks the newest escalation in Trump’s aggressive immigration clampdown. That effort stretches all the way in which again to his first time period in workplace, which noticed him launch his so-called Muslim ban and household separation coverage.
In Trump 2.0, the administration has gone even additional, together with by dramatically increasing its full or partial journey ban towards dozens of nations in December. The growth was announced after an Afghan immigrant was arrested and charged within the taking pictures of two U.S. Nationwide Guard troops in Washington.
When these journey bans are mixed with the Trump administration’s newest visa freeze, “the Trump administration has now banned or suspended immigrant visas* for 90 totally different international locations, together with 70% of African international locations,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow on the American Immigration Council, said in a publish on X.
The administration’s newest announcement is definite to compound the uncertainty going through immigrant communities in america.
New knowledge revealed by economists on the Brookings Establishment this week confirmed that america lost more immigrants in 2025 than entered the nation—the primary time this has occurred in at the very least half a century. That drop-off might be largely attributed to the Trump administration’s restrictive measures, the authors stated.
“The primary 12 months of the second Trump administration has seen dramatic modifications in immigration coverage, leading to a pointy slowdown in web migration to america,” the authors wrote. “We count on the sample of restrictive coverage and elevated enforcement to proceed or intensify by means of the approaching 12 months.”
