United States President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to crack down on “visa overstays” – foreigners who legally enter the country but remain in the U.S. after their visas expire.
Trump signed a memorandum ordering the secretary of state and the secretary of homeland security to submit plans within four months to crack down on overstays, such as punishing countries whose citizens have high rates of overstays and requiring foreign travelers to post “admission bonds” that would be repaid once they leave the country.
According to US Homeland Security data, over 1.2 million immigrants remained in the US from 2016 to 2017 even after their visas expired.
“Although the United States benefits from legitimate (non-immigrant) entry, individuals who abuse the visa process and decline to abide by the terms and conditions of their visas, including their visa departure dates, undermine the integrity of our immigration system and harm the national interest,” Trump wrote in his memorandum.
Trump has asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to engage with the governments of countries whose over 10 percent of their citizens traveling to the US on short-term visas fail to exit the country when their visas expire.
Such countries will be slapped with punishments such as limiting the number of visas granted to their citizens, limiting the time its citizens are allowed to travel to the US. and demanding that their citizens to provide more documents when traveling.
“The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall immediately begin taking all appropriate actions that are within the scope of their respective authorities to reduce overstay rates for all classes of (non-immigrant) visas,” Trump wrote.
The order is the latest example of Trump’s renewed push on immigration, following a shakeup of the Department of Homeland Security and his increasing frustration with the rising number of Central American migrants entering the country.