The Trump administration is framing visa revocations as a national security measure, arguing that removing foreign nationals who commit crimes, including under the influence driving, is essential to protecting the American public."Every visa decision is a national security decision," State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital."Of course, when we think of border security, we think about the Southwest border, but visa security is border security.
It's who we're allowing into the country legally, and if they operate in a way that is grounds for revocation, we're going to protect the American people."The Trump administration has taken an aggressive approach to revoking visas, announcing in January that more than 100,000 foreign nationals' visas were revoked in 2025 — more than double the number revoked during President Joe Biden's final year in office.While a majority of those visas were revoked because travelers overstayed their visas, Pigott said many others lost their visas because of criminal activity, with drunk driving arrests accounting for many of those revocations.DHS BLASTS MINNESOTA BOARD FOR UNANIMOUSLY PARDONING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CONVICTED OF 3 ASSAULTSThe Trump administration has been aggressive about revoking visas of foreign nationals, having revoked 100,000 visas in 2025 ((Photo by Harry Hamburg/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) (Photo by Aaron Schwartz / AFP via Getty Images))"Fundamentally, if you break the law, that is grounds for revocation," Pigott said."If you break law, you break terms of your visa, or you undermine the national security of the United States, that's grounds for a revocation of your visas."Pigott cited recent examples of visa revocations involving DUI offenses, including a foreign national who injured someone while driving drunk and another who showed up intoxicated to a court-mandated DUI program."Driving drunk on streets is incredibly dangerous," Pigott continued.
"It's part of a broader initiativ...