A new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas in the United States that goes into effect on Sunday will be levied per petition and will not be applied to existing holders of valid visas re-entering the country, the White House said on Saturday.
&#8220;This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition,&#8221; White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X on Saturday.
Leavitt also said that current H-1B visa holders who are currently outside of the country right now will not be charged $100,000 to re-enter the United States.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday said the fee would be paid annually, but added that details were &#8220;still being considered.&#8221;
Some companies including Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Amazon, had responded to the Friday announcement by advising employees holding H-1B visas to remain in the United States, according to internal emails reviewed by Reuters. A Goldman Sachs internal memo seen by Reuters on Saturday urged employees with such visas to exercise caution on international travel.
Leavitt said on X that H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would and that the new fee would only apply in the next H-1B lottery round and not to current visa holders or renewals.
The White House said the fee was being imposed to level the playing field for American workers which it said are being &#8220;replaced with lower-paid foreign labor.&#8221;
The executive order imposing the new fee on H-1B visa applications, which was signed by President Donald Trump on Friday night, could disrupt the global operations of Indian technology services companies that deploy skilled professionals to the United States, Indian IT industry body Nasscom said early on Saturday.
In a fact sheet distributed on Saturday, the White House said it would allow an H-1B visa application without the $100,000 fee on a case-by-case basis &#8220;if in the national interest.&#8221;
The fact sheet said that the share of IT workers with H-1B visas has risen from 32% in FY 2003 to over 65% in recent years.
It also requires the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security to issue joint guidance for verification, enforcement, audits, and penalties and directs the Labor Secretary to start a rulemaking to &#8220;revise the prevailing wage levels for the H-1B program&#8221; and &#8220;to prioritize high-skilled, high-paid H-1B workers.&#8221;
Friday&#8217;s announcement sparked concerns among employees across swaths of corporate America.
On the popular Chinese social media app Rednote, many H-1B holders shared stories of rushing back to the U.S. — some just hours after landing abroad — fearing they would be subject to the new $100,000 fee.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington; Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington and Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler, Marguerita Choy and Andrea Ricci)

American visa

New U.S. H-1B Visa Fee Will Not Apply To Existing Holders, White House Says

Big Tech

Donald Trump

Economy

Global Politics

India

Politics

Visa

Trump Increases Federal Law Enforcement Presence, Deploys National Guard In Nation’s Capital

Illegal Immigrant Numbers In America Are Far Worse Than We’ve Been Told

Deportations

illegal immigrants

Immigrants

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Matt Walsh

Opinion

The U.S. State Department announced on Thursday that it would start reviewing every visa holder in the United States to determine if they have committed any offenses that could trigger deportation.
An immigrant with a U.S. visa who is deemed ineligible due to violations, such as “indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization,” will be deported, the State Department stated.
“We review all available information as part of our vetting, including law enforcement or immigration records or any other information that comes to light after visa issuance indicating a potential ineligibility,” the department added.
“Every single student visa revoked under the Trump Administration has happened because the individual has either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism while in the United States,” the State Department official account posted on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/statedept/posts/every-single-student-visa-revoked-under-the-trump-administration-has-happened-be/1199430242216239/">Facebook.</a>
“The State Department issued close to 11 million temporary visas, which do not include permanent residency or ‘green cards,’ during the 2024 fiscal year,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/08/21/us-visa-vetting-foreigners-immigration-tourism/">The Washington Post</a> reported. “ICE is on track to deport over <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/18/us-news/illegal-migrant-truck-driver-suspect-in-deadly-florida-crash-was-given-work-permit-under-biden-after-being-denied-by-trump-dhs/">400,000 illegal immigrants</a> by the end of President Trump’s first year in office,” The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/21/us-news/deportations-surge-amid-trumps-historic-crackdown-on-illegal-immigration/">added</a>.
Commenting on the amount of time it will take to perform the necessary investigations, a senior State Department official declared, “Time is not my concern, the security of Americans is.”
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On Thursday, a federal judge nominated to her position by former President Joe Biden <a href="applewebdata://3C0C3141-3A13-4058-ADF9-8B8EAE563F3A/v">ruled</a> in favor of immigrants from Afghanistan, Burma, Iran, Somalia, and Togo, saying that the State Department could not use President Donald Trump’s travel ban to deny visas to foreigners. However, the ruling still permitted immigration authorities to reject them at a port of entry and airline officials to refuse to allow them on a plane.
One major impact of the current Trump administration’s policies on illegal immigration has been a startling plunge in the foreign-born population in the U.S., and it’s the most significant six-month decline ever in the same year, according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
The foreign-born population declined an astonishing 2.2 million from January to July, CIS <a href="https://cis.org/Report/Overall-ForeignBorn-Population-Down-22-Million-January-July?&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social-media&amp;utm_campaign=addtoany">reported</a>, estimating the number of illegal immigrants fell by 1.6 million in the same period. CIS based its estimates on an analysis of raw data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Current Population Survey (CPS). CIS also estimated the total illegal immigrant population at 14.2 million in July based on the January 2025 CPS. CIS defined illegal immigrants as people with “pending defensive asylum applications, those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and parolees.”

Two American passports on a U.S. flag

Trump Admin Launches Review Of 55 Million Visa Holders For Possible Deportation

illegal immigrant

Immigration

State Department

Trump Administration

Vice President JD Vance defended the Trump administration’s immigration policies in a speech Wednesday, predicting that the United States was on the cusp of “net negative immigration.”
Speaking at an artificial intelligence summit hosted by the All In Podcast and the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, the vice president addressed conservative critics who claim the White House is not doing enough to fight illegal immigration.
Noting that the Trump administration has faced legal and practical struggles while pursuing its goal of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-deportations-trump-six-months/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1 million</a> deportations this year, Vance nevertheless said that if you consider the “net number” of deportations, the Trump administration has been “wildly successful.”
“In 2025 we will have the first net negative immigration number in about 50 or 60 years in the United States,” Vance said.
He also responded to the argument that more deportations occurred under Biden.
“That’s actually a completely fake statistic. It’s based on the fact that if you come into the country illegally, and then the Biden administration processes you and sends you out, that counts as a deportation.”
Border Patrol didn’t release a single illegal into the United States in May, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/06/17/us-news/border-agents-didnt-release-a-single-illegal-migrant-into-the-us-last-month-border-patrol/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. By contrast, 62,000 illegal migrants crossed the border in the same month last year.
During his address Vance also criticized companies — calling out Microsoft specifically — for performing mass layoffs while actively applying for H1-B visas.
H1-B visas are <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">temporary work permits</a> that allow American companies to employ foreign nonimmigrant skilled workers in “specialty occupations.” There is a cap on how many H1-B visas can be issued per year, currently set at 65,000.
&#8220;You see some big tech companies where they&#8217;ll lay off 9,000 workers, and then they&#8217;ll apply for a bunch of overseas visas. And I sort of wonder; that doesn&#8217;t totally make sense to me,” Vance said, seemingly referencing Microsoft, who announced their latest round of layoffs earlier this month which would affect <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/02/microsoft-laying-off-about-9000-employees-in-latest-round-of-cuts.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9,000</a> employees, or 4% of their workforce.
&#8220;That displacement and that math worries me a bit. And what the president has said, he said very clearly: we want the very best and the brightest to make America their home. We want them to build great companies and so forth.”
“But I don&#8217;t want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, &#8216;We can&#8217;t find workers here in America,&#8217;” Vance added. “That&#8217;s a bulls*** story.&#8221;
Rumours were circulating on X after Microsoft announced its layoffs that it has applied for over 6,000 H1-B visas since the start of the fiscal year in October. Though the rumours are currently unsubstantiated, last year Microsoft applied for and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microsoft-layoffs-h1b-visa-applications-2094370" target="_blank" rel="noopener">received</a> 9,491 H1-B visas.
This comes as multiple big tech companies collectively committed to investing $90 billion into developing AI infrastructure in Pennsylvania at a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/trump-to-tout-billions-in-investments-to-create-ai-hub-in-pennsylvania-1e9afa89?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">summit</a> that Trump attended last week. Trump also signed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/23/trump-ai-action-plan-big-tech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three executive orders</a> on Wednesday that will deregulate and encourage investment in the AI industry.
“We created the digital age, and now we are leading the world into the golden age,” Trump said at the signing. “With your help, that golden age will be built by American workers. It will be powered by American energy. It will be run on American technology, improved by American artificial intelligence,” he told tech companies.

All-In and Hill & Valley Forum Host “Winning The AI Race”

Vance Predicts United States Will See ‘Net Negative Immigration’ This Year

Artificial Intelligence

Illegal Immigration

JD Vance

Jobs

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration would implement new visa restrictions targeting foreigners “complicit” in censoring Americans.
“Even as we take action to reject censorship at home, we see troubling instances of foreign governments and foreign officials picking up the slack,” Rubio <a href="https://www.state.gov/announcement-of-a-visa-restriction-policy-targeting-foreign-nationals-who-censor-americans/">stated</a>. “In some instances, foreign officials have taken flagrant censorship actions against U.S. tech companies and U.S. citizens and residents when they have no authority to do so.”
“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States,” he continued. “It is unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants on U.S. citizens or U.S. residents for social media posts on American platforms while physically present on U.S. soil.  It is similarly unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States.  We will not tolerate encroachments upon American sovereignty, especially when such encroachments undermine the exercise of our fundamental right to free speech.”
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“Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country,” Rubio wrote on X. “Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country. Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecRubio/status/1927729604598342023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On Tuesday, Rubio issued a cable to U.S. embassies and consulates stating that the State Department would temporarily stop interviews abroad with foreign citizens applying for student and exchange visas. “Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued septel (separate telegram) which we anticipate in the coming days,” the cable <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/27/trump-team-orders-stop-to-new-student-visa-interviews-as-it-weighs-expanding-social-media-vetting-00370501">stated</a>, per POLITICO.

Passport on the desk of an American businessman

Rubio Announces New Visa Restrictions For Foreigners Who Censor Americans

Censorship

Foreigner

Marco Rubio

The Trump administration is blocking all new student visa interviews in preparation for upcoming social media vetting requirements for all international students.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a cable on Tuesday directing U.S. embassies to &#8220;not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued &#8230; which we anticipate in the coming days,&#8221; according to a document POLITICO <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/27/trump-team-orders-stop-to-new-student-visa-interviews-as-it-weighs-expanding-social-media-vetting-00370501" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obtained</a>.
The pause affects all applicants for student visas while the administration reportedly prepares guidance for expanded social media vetting requirements.
This represents yet another blow to the finances of dozens of elite universities from the Trump administration, which has cut billions in federal grants for Ivy League institutions such as Harvard and Yale, in addition to threatening their tax-exempt status over free speech violations and DEI initiatives.
The more than 1 million international students in the United States represent a significant revenue source for many American higher education institutions, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/05/25/international-students-harvard-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">constituting</a> nearly 30% of Harvard’s student body.
Several prestigious institutions have faced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-apologizes-for-inaction-after-students-antisemitic-abuser-pleads-guilty?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=46&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=University+Apologizes+For+Inaction+After+Student%E2%80%99s+Antisemitic+Abuser+Pleads+Guilty">accusations</a> of tolerating antisemitism and allowing foreign influence to spread unchecked on their campuses, issues that gained heightened attention after Hamas&#8217; October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and subsequent campus protests.
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This directive broadens the scope of the administration&#8217;s previous social media vetting, which had primarily focused on students returning to the U.S. after potentially participating in pro-Hamas protests.
The Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/homeland-security-to-screen-immigrants-and-foreign-students-social-media-for-anti-semitism?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=43&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Homeland+Security+To+Screen+Immigrants+And+Foreign+Students%E2%80%99+Social+Media+For+Anti-Semitism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> in early April that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would begin screening foreign students&#8217; social media for antisemitic content and any history of physically harassing Jews.
In the screening process, USCIS is considering any social media content that “indicates an alien endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity as a negative factor in any USCIS discretionary analysis when adjudicating immigration benefit requests.”
The Tuesday cable references executive orders aimed at keeping terrorists out of the country and combating antisemitism, though it doesn&#8217;t explicitly detail what the future vetting would screen for.
The State Department has not provided additional details about when the expanded vetting requirements will be implemented or how long the pause on new visa appointments might last, at the time of writing.
The Trump administration has consistently prioritized national security concerns in its immigration policies, with particular focus on identifying potential threats before they enter the country and addressing what it views as ideological bias in academic institutions.
“I think it’s crazy to invite students into your country that are coming onto your campus and destabilizing it,” Rubio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/homeland-security-to-screen-immigrants-and-foreign-students-social-media-for-anti-semitism">said</a> in April. “Every country in the world has a right to decide who comes in as a visitor and who doesn’t.&#8221;

Supreme Court Rules Affirmative Action Is Unconstitutional In Landmark Case With Harvard And UNC

Trump Admin Freezes All New Student Visa Interviews In Major Blow To Elite Universities

American Universities

Anti-Semitism

Education

foreign students

Free Speech

Hamas

Harvard

Israel

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration is unveiling a new visa &#8220;Gold Card&#8221; to attract wealthy immigrants to the U.S.
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to be selling a Gold Card,&#8221; Trump said in the Oval Office while speaking to reporters. &#8220;You have a Green Card. This is a Gold Card. We&#8217;re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that&#8217;s going to give you Green Card privileges, plus it&#8217;s going to be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card.&#8221;
&#8220;They&#8217;ll be wealthy, and they&#8217;ll be successful, and they&#8217;ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it&#8217;s going to be extremely successful,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Never been done before anything like this, but it&#8217;s something that we&#8217;re going to be putting out over the next two weeks.&#8221;
He said that the Gold Card will attract &#8220;very high level people&#8221; who create jobs.
&#8220;So you&#8217;re getting big taxpayers, big job producers, and we&#8217;ll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;And if you add up the numbers, they&#8217;re pretty good. As an example, a million cards would be worth $5 trillion, $5 trillion. And if you sell 10 million of the cards, that&#8217;s a total of $50 trillion well, we have $35 trillion in debt. That&#8217;d be nice, so we&#8217;ll see.&#8221;
He said that the administration has already worked out the deal from a legal standpoint and that it is good to go.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
President Trump announces the U.S. will replace the EB-5 program with a new &#8220;Gold Card.&#8221;
&#8220;They&#8217;ll be able to pay $5 million to the U.S. government. They&#8217;ll have to go through vetting, of course &#8230; The President can give them a green card — and they can invest in America and we… <a href="https://t.co/xcJntSkHtm">pic.twitter.com/xcJntSkHtm</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1894505358577569899?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2025</a></blockquote>

President Trump Signs Executive Orders At The White House

Trump Introduces $5 Million ‘Gold Card’ That Wealthy People Can Buy To Come To America

Executive

U.S.

Several of the illegal immigrants Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis flew to Martha&#8217;s Vineyard in 2022 have since been approved for U-visas — based on claims that they were the victims of a crime.
According to a <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/22/metro/desantis-migrants-marthas-vineyard-legal-status/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> published Monday by The Boston Globe, three of the 49 illegal immigrants who were transported from San Antonio, Texas, to Florida and then to Martha&#8217;s Vineyard have been granted what&#8217;s called a &#8220;bona fide determination&#8221; – meaning that they qualify for a U-visa but have not yet received it.
U-visas are typically &#8220;set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity,&#8221; <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-of-criminal-activity-u-nonimmigrant-status#:~:text=The%20U%20nonimmigrant%20status%20(U,or%20prosecution%20of%20criminal%20activity." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
And in this particular case, they cooperated with a Bexar County Sheriff&#8217;s investigation into whether any of them had been lured or coerced into getting on the flights. The investigation lasted about one month, and Sheriff Javier Salazar concluded that the illegal immigrants involved had been &#8220;lured &#8230; under false pretenses&#8221; to board the planes and then said they were &#8220;unceremoniously stranded&#8221; upon their arrival in Martha&#8217;s Vineyard. DeSantis has repeatedly denied any coercion, saying that all migrants <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-investigate-desantis-for-flying-migrants-to-marthas-vineyard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boarded the flights</a> &#8220;voluntarily.&#8221;
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Official U-visas could take up to ten years to approve because Congress only allows 10,000 to be issued annually — but the &#8220;bona fide determinations&#8221; protect recipients from deportation until their visas arrive and allow them to legally work in the United States during that time as well. U-visas also put recipients on a path to obtaining green cards.
Hemanth C. Gundavaram, co-founder and director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at Northeastern University School of Law, explained to The Globe that the goal was to help correct for &#8220;a failure in our system,&#8221; noting that in order to qualify for U-visas, the illegal immigrants must first be shown to be the victims of crimes and then had to assist law enforcement or the government in any investigation that followed.
&#8220;This is a harm reduction provision. If you didn’t have these protections, someone would have to stay here, worry about deportation, and not be able to make a living,&#8221; he said.

Venezuelan Migrants

‘Crime Victim’ Visas Approved For Migrants Who Were Flown To Martha’s Vineyard

'Crime Victim' Visas Approved For Migrants Who Were Flown To Martha's Vineyard

Border Crisis

Florida

Martha's Vineyard

Massachusetts

Ron DeSantis

After Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to the State Department requesting they conduct a review and coordination effort to revoke the visas of those who have endorsed or espoused Hamas’ terrorist activity on U.S. soil, the State Department admitted in a return letter they indeed had the authority to revoke those visas.
The State Department took a full month to respond as Rubio had sent his letter on October 15 and their response was dated November 15.
“As you are aware, the Secretary of State designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act on October 8, 1997,” the State Department acknowledged. “Our first priority when adjudicating visa applications is to ensure applicants do not pose a security risk to the United States. Every prospective traveler to the United States undergoes extensive security screening. This screening draws on information from the full range of U.S. government agencies, including biographic and biometric screening against U.S. law enforcement and counterterrorism databases. No visa is issued until all concerns raised by the screening process are fully resolved.”
Then the State Department admitted, “The Department of State also has broad authority under the INA to revoke visas. We exercise that authority when there is information or evidence indicating a visa holder may be ineligible for a U.S. visa. When we receive derogatory information that indicates potential visa ineligibility, we take immediate actions, such as entering the information into U.S. government databases and revoking visas if deemed appropriate.”
“State Department confirms they have the power to revoke the visas of Hamas supporters and deport them. Now they need to do it,” Rubio tweeted upon receipt of the letter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
State Department confirms they have the power to revoke the visas of Hamas supporters and deport them. Now they need to do it. <a href="https://t.co/vCXyKufhad">pic.twitter.com/vCXyKufhad</a>
&mdash; Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1724943837343219866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
At the end of October, FBI Director Christopher Wray <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/hamas-attack-galvanizing-terror-groups-worldwide-warn-us-officials/7335141.html">warned</a> that the Israel-Hamas war had raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a higher level, telling the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, “We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration the likes of which we haven&#8217;t seen since ISIS launched its so-called caliphate several years ago. &#8230; In just the past few weeks, multiple foreign terrorist organizations have called for attacks against Americans and the West.”
National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Director Christine Abizaid said the war was being utilized as “a feature of messaging and propaganda” from various terror groups, adding, “We&#8217;ve seen it from al-Qaida affiliates, almost every single one. We&#8217;ve also seen it from ISIS, which ideologically isn&#8217;t aligned with a group like Hamas, but is still leveraging this current conflict. They are seeking to capitalize on this moment to galvanize supporters and organize further attacks.”

Rubio Gets State Department To Admit They Can Revoke Visas Of Hamas Supporters In U.S.

Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jd-vance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">J.D. Vance</a> (R-OH) is introducing legislation to crack down on illegal visa overstays — and it&#8217;s about time.
Consider that the 9/11 Commission <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-visa-loophole-thats-been-open-since-911/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recommended</a> that the U.S. should focus on the prevention of visa overstays to protect national security. And yet, nearly 22 years later, hundreds of thousands of individuals still take advantage of America&#8217;s visa system.
&#8220;America is a welcoming nation, but we are also a nation of laws,” Vance said in a statement sent to The Daily Wire. &#8220;There are millions of people in this country who have abused our visa system and circumvented our legal immigration process.&#8221;
To help stop this problem, Vance is introducing  the &#8220;Timely Departure Act.&#8221; Under this bill, foreigners who enter the U.S. under the visa program would be required to deposit up to $15,000 to the Department of Homeland Security prior to entering the country. If they exit the country in the required amount of time, they would be given that money back. However, if they fail to leave, then the money is put into an account that can &#8220;only be used to fund the detention and removal of illegal aliens.&#8221;
&#8220;It is a slap in the face to the working-class Ohioans whose wages are suffering &#8212; I will not stand for it,&#8221; Vance said of those who take advantage of America&#8217;s immigration system. &#8220;I’m proud to introduce this legislation and bring some sanity to our broken immigration system.&#8221;
According to a <a href="https://www.fairus.org/blog/2023/06/30/new-report-highlights-visa-overstays" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent report</a> from DHS, there were 853,955 overstays in fiscal year 2022. And that&#8217;s on top of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, who illegally crossed the southern border.
Jessica Vaughn of the Center for Immigration Studies noted in 2022 that visa overstays &#8220;are a significant contributor to our nation&#8217;s illegal immigration problem.&#8221;
Vaughan told The Washington Examiner,  &#8220;ICE should be directed to expand enforcement programs that target overstays. Laws should be tweaked to impose the same penalties for overstayers as illegal border crossers.&#8221;
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&#8220;Congress should continue to press DHS to build the biometric entry-exit system that will help maintain the integrity of the visa programs,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/record-16-8-million-illegal-immigrants-cost-us-163-billion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.
Maybe DHS can use some of the funds scrounged up thanks to Vance&#8217;s bill, should it ever become law.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Time To End Immigrant Visa Overstay Abuse, U.S. Senator Says. Here’s His Plan To Fix It.

Time To End Immigrant Visa Overstay Abuse, U.S. Senator Says. Here's His Plan To Fix It.

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After gun control advocates persuaded credit card companies to use a new merchant category code (MCC) to help track gun purchases, gun advocates fought back and got the credit card companies to back down.
At the end of August 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, and trustees of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System, and Board of Education Retirement System <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/630-22/mayor-adams-comptroller-lander-pension-trustees-other-elected-leaders-call-credit-card#/0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urged</a> American Express, MasterCard, and Visa to support establishing a merchant category code (MCC) for gun and ammunition stores.
In September 2022, Amalgamated Bank announced its application to the International Standards Organization for a new merchant category code (MCC) for gun and ammunition stores had been approved.
“We all have to do our part to stop gun violence,” Priscilla Sims Brown, the president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, <a href="https://amalgamatedbank.com/news/amalgamated-bank-petition-new-code-gun-and-ammunition-stores-has-been-approved-international" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated.</a> “And it sometimes starts with illegal purchases of guns and ammunition. The new code will allow us to fully comply with our duty to report suspicious activity and illegal gun sales to authorities without blocking or impeding legal gun sales. This action answers the call of millions of Americans who want safety from gun violence and we are proud to have led the broad coalition of advocates, shareholders, and elected officials that achieved this historic outcome.”
The same month, 24 attorneys general from around the nation, led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, sent a <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MTAG/2022/09/20/file_attachments/2274582/Second%20Amendment%20&amp;%20ISO%20Merchant%20Code%20Multistate%20Letter%20%28Final%202%29.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to the CEOs of American Express, Mastercard, and Visa, stating:
<blockquote>
As Attorneys General, we have the privilege of protecting our citizens from corporate coordination that hurts consumers. We are also charged with ensuring that consumer data is not unlawfully gathered or used. &#8230; Be advised that we will marshal the full scope of our lawful authority to protect our citizens and consumers from unlawful attempts to undermine their constitutional rights. Please keep that in mind as you consider whether to proceed with adopting and implementing this Merchant Category Code.
</blockquote>
But now, the credit card companies have backed down. Reason Magazine’s J.D. Tuccile <a href="https://reason.com/2023/03/13/credit-cards-pause-efforts-to-track-gun-purchases-after-pushback/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that a Discover representative emailed him, “To continue alignment and interoperability with the industry, Discover is removing the new merchant category code identified as MCC 5723 from our April 23.1 Network Release.”
A MasterCard representative added, “Today, there are bills advancing in several states related to the use of this new code. If passed, the result will be an inconsistency in how this ISO standard could be applied by merchants, issuers, acquirers and networks. It&#8217;s for that reason that we have decided to pause work on the implementation of the firearms-specific MCC.”
Visa and American Express are also <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-09/visa-mastercard-pause-work-on-code-aimed-at-gun-purchases?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery&amp;leadSource=uverify%20wall" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly pausing</a> the implementation of the MCC.

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Credit Card Companies Were Ready To Track Gun Purchases. Gun Advocates Got Them To Back Down.

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<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/visa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visa</a> and Mastercard paused plans to track gun and ammunition purchases after receiving blowback to the plan from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/gun-rights" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gun rights</a> advocates and supporters.
The payment processors <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/visa-to-categorize-sales-at-gun-stores-in-win-for-gun-control-advocates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> last year that they would adopt the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant category code that could be used to better track gun and ammunition purchases from gun stores. The move riled gun rights supporters and provoked Republican lawmakers and attorneys general to take action against the payment processors.
Visa, the world’s largest payment processor, and Mastercard are now pausing adoption of the new code after the stiff opposition and in the face of several states moving forward with legislation that would block such tracking, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-09/visa-mastercard-pause-work-on-code-aimed-at-gun-purchases" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg</a>.
“There are bills advancing in several states related to the use of this new code. If passed, the result will be an inconsistency in how this ISO standard could be applied by merchants, issuers, acquirers and networks,” a spokesman for Visa told Bloomberg. “It’s for that reason that we have decided to pause work on the implementation of the firearms-specific MCC.”
Second Amendment supporters hailed the announcement as a victory for gun rights.
“Well done, it’s about time. US companies should not be taking orders from international NGOs to target legal industries,” <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorHagerty/status/1633866528125747209" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN). “This politicization of our financial sector must stop.”
Nearly two dozen GOP attorneys general sent a letter to Visa, Mastercard, and American Express in September over plans to adopt the new code and track gun and ammo purchases. The state prosecutors warned the companies that such tracking could be used to infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights
“Categorizing the constitutionally protected right to purchase firearms unfairly singles out law-abiding merchants and consumers alike,” the attorneys general <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/23-republican-ags-warn-credit-card-companies-to-abandon-plan-to-identify-gun-sales" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. “We will marshal the full scope of our lawful authority to protect our citizens and consumers from unlawful attempts to undermine their constitutional rights.”
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Republicans in Congress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-than-100-house-republicans-demand-answers-from-credit-card-giants-categorizing-sales-at-gun-stores" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expressed</a> similar concerns. They said that the new code could be a workaround to creating a gun registry monitored by private corporations instead of by the federal government.
The credit card companies moved to adopt the code after facing pressure from Democrats who said that tracking gun purchases could cut down on mass shootings.
“Credit card companies like @Visa, @Mastercard, and @AmericanExpress can and should do more to help stop mass shootings,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tweeted on September 6, adding that she is “urging these companies to step up and help identify suspicious purchases to prevent gun violence.”

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