US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his State Department have revoked visas for some legal immigrants who the US government believes pose a danger to the country, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said.
“He has used his authority to revoke visas of numerous individuals who came here legally but pose a risk to our country and who should not have been allowed to enter in the first place,“ she said in an interview with Fox News.
According to Leavitt, the US State Department has significantly tightened the requirements and procedures for vetting US visa applicants.
Earlier, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) temporarily suspended processing of asylum applications from foreign nationals citizens. US President Donald Trump announced that his administration plans to deport asylum seekers arriving in the country and will indefinitely suspend the admission and resettlement of people from third-world countries. Rubio, in turn, announced that the US authorities are suspending visas for citizens of Afghanistan. The move was a result of the shooting near the White House last week, in which the suspect turned out to be a man of Afghan origin.
On November 26, he opened fire on National Guard soldiers near Admiral David Farragut Park in downtown Washington. The scene of the incident was about 300 meters from the White House. The attacker and two National Guard soldiers were injured and hospitalized. One of the soldiers later died. Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem said the suspect arrived in the United States from Afghanistan in 2021 as part of the Allied Admissions Program following the withdrawal of US troops from the country.