The State Department says it will suspend the processing of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries whose nationals are deemed likely to require public assistance while living in the United States. The department said Wednesday it had instructed consular officers to halt immigrant visa applications from the countries affected in accordance with a broader order issued in November that tightened rules around potential immigrants who might become "public charges" in the U.S. The suspension will not apply to applicants seeking non-immigrant, or temporary tourist or business, visas. The department says it's "bringing an end to the abuse of America's immigration system." The suspension begins Jan. 21.
The Trump administration has added seven countries, including five in Africa, to the list of nations whose passport holders are required to post bonds of up to $15,000 to apply for visas to enter the United States. Thirteen countries, all but two of them in Africa, are now on the list. It makes the process of obtaining a visa unaffordable for many but U.S. officials say it is an effective deterrent to prevent foreigners from overstaying their visas. The State Department last week quietly added Bhutan, Botswana, the Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia and Turkmenistan to the list. Those designations took effect on Jan. 1. It's the latest effort by the Trump administration to tighten requirements for visa applicants.
U.S. immigration officials say some 475 people were detained during an immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia site where South Korean auto company Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles. South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong described the number of detained South Koreans as "large" though he did not provide an exact figure. No charges were immediately announced. Officials from Homeland Security Investigations say the raid resulted from a monthslong investigation into allegations of illegal hiring at the site and was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the agency's two-decade history.
he State Department is proposing requiring applicants for business and tourist visas to post a bond of up to $15,000 to apply to enter the United States. It's a move that may make the process unaffordable for many. In a notice to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, the department says it will start a 12-month pilot program under which people from countries deemed to have high overstay rates and deficient internal document security controls could be required to post bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 when they apply for a visa. It says the countries affected will be listed once the program takes effect.
The State Department says it's investigating whether Harvard University will remain part of a government program that allows foreign nationals to take part in cultural and education exchange programs. The move Wednesday is the latest in a series of inquires by the Trump administration targeted the Ivy League school. Harvard already has filed a lawsuit challenging $2.6 billion in federal funding cuts. And the school accuses the administration of waging a retaliation campaign after Harvard rejected demands from a federal antisemitism task force in April. The State Department isn't saying why it's investigating Harvard's eligibility to take part in the Exchange Visitor Program.
Federal officials say the government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students after many filed court challenges around the U.S. That word came Friday. Judges around the country had already issued temporary orders restoring the students' records in a federal database of international students maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The records had been suddenly terminated in recent weeks, often without the students or their schools being notified. A lawyer for the government read a statement in federal court in California that said ICE was restoring the student status for people whose records were terminated in recent weeks.
Colleges around the country are reporting cases of international students suddenly learning their visas have been revoked. Visas can be canceled for a number of reasons, but college leaders say the government has been quietly terminating students' legal residency status with little notice to students or schools. It marks a shift from past practice and leaves students vulnerable to detention and deportation. A growing list of colleges that have announced discovering students with revoked status recently includes Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, UCLA and Ohio State University.
