The United States is increasingly a fortress against immigration

During Donald Trump’s second term the United States is determined to become a fortress that only a few, select foreigners can enter. In addition to the attempt to ban immigration from 75 countries — subsequently blocked by a judge — the mass cancellation of visas and the prohibitive hike in fees for some entry permits, the Republican administration has now added the temporary suspension of immigrant visa processing at its embassies worldwide, while it completes a “global training initiative” for consular officers to turn away applicants suspected of intending to settle in the country to abuse public services.

A State Department spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that it launched that training initiative this August and, as a result, appointments for visa processing “will be adjusted” to allow the training to take place. The department did not say how long the situation will last.

“A more prosperous America means ensuring that visa applicants are not likely to become a public charge, as defined under U.S. law and regulation, and not likely to become dependent on U.S. public benefits reserved for qualified Americans in need,” the spokesperson told the Financial Times.

Since his return to the White House in January 2025, Trump has launched an aggressive campaign of mass deportations and immigration restrictions on both illegal and legal migration. The president and his team —particularly his domestic policy adviser and deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller — say the measures are necessary to strengthen security inside the United States and to prevent people who are not entitled to public benefits from abusing them to the detriment of U.S. citizens.

The campaign has intensified as the Republican administration’s term has progressed. Earlier this week, the State Department confirmed it will cancel up to 200,000 work or tourist visas for people who entered the country on those visas and who, after arrival, have applied for asylum or are in the process of doing so. It is the largest revocation of entry permits on record in U.S. history, according to a message the White House itself posted on its social media accounts that includes an image of Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“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 chief spokesman Tommy Pigott said. The department’s number two, Christopher Landau — a fluent Spanish speaker who boasts in that language of his nickname, El Quitavisas (the visa remover) — also posted a supportive message on social media: “People in the U.S. and all over the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims,” Landau wrote on X. “Asylum isn’t supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration laws.”

Revoking visas does not necessarily mean the affected people will be deported. Most asylum applicants with pending cases would simply be reclassified in their immigration status and would lose their designation as short-term visitors or business travelers.

New requirements

The new measure is not the only way Washington has tightened its visa policy. The Trump administration has introduced new personal-information requirements, including a demand for access to applicants’ social media accounts. It also plans to reduce authorized stay periods for holders of certain visa categories, including students and journalists. In January of this year it barred entry to citizens of 75 countries.

At the same time, the Republican administration, which has also cut Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain crisis-hit countries and has all but eliminated the possibility of filing new asylum claims, has stepped up raids and deportations of undocumented immigrants. The border police, ICE, broke its own records and in July detained almost 49,600 people. That figure represents a 15% increase over June and is the highest recorded during Trump’s second term, according to official data from the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley. Before Trump’s return to the White House, ICE’s monthly arrests averaged around 8,000.

U.S. authorities have changed tactics: from large, highly visible urban sweeps to smaller, more surgical operations that are less conspicuous but more frequent and equally worrying for immigrant communities. Previously off-limits places, such as churches and hospitals, have seen arrests on their premises. Routine traffic stops have also been used.

The courts have become the main line of defense against these measures. It is expected that, once they begin to be applied, representatives of those affected will file lawsuits challenging the revocation of tourist or work visas. Academic associations have already sued over the possible reduction of authorized stay for students.

Several of these initiatives have already been halted by judges. One court banned ICE’s practice of detaining immigrants when they showed up for court appointments to regularize their status, describing the tactic as “arbitrary and capricious.” Other judges have ordered the release of detainees who were irregularly arrested.

Last week, a New York court struck down the ban on issuing immigrant visas to citizens of 75 countries, including Brazil, Guatemala, and Colombia, ruling that Rubio exceeded his authority when he approved that policy. The State Department had argued when announcing the ban that potential immigrants from those countries were more likely to become an “economic burden” for the U.S.

But the Trump administration has also responded to court injunctions, on occasion, by sticking to its guns. Last year, the government temporarily imposed a fee of $100,000 or more to process new H-1B visas, which are granted to highly skilled foreign workers. That fee was unprecedented in terms of its cost, which prior to the change had ranged from $2,000 to $5,000. Numerous companies — especially in the tech sector, which employs a large proportion of these immigrants — protested. In June, a federal judge ruled that the measure was illegal and prohibited the administration from imposing that fee. The case is currently pending in an appeals court.

The temporary measure approved last year expires this September. On Monday, the Federal Register published a new rule proposed by the Department of Homeland Security that could take effect later this year and would permanently raise the cost of an H-1B visa to $103,265.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition