By Breitbart News Network | Created at 2026-08-14 01:36:23 | Updated at 2026-08-14 06:29:10
9 hours ago
The State Department has revoked over 175,000 visas, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott revealed during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily.
“So we have now revoked, from the State Department, over 175,000 visas from foreigners who had visas,” Pigott began, noting that these revocations are rooted in three different categories. It can involve those who broke the law or the terms of their visa, or if they stood as a threat to national security.
“The three main buckets in terms of these visa revocations are if they break the terms of their visas, if they break the law, or if they’re a threat to national security,” he said, revealing that the primary reason for these revocations involves criminal activity, including assault.
“When it comes just to the numbers of those, the primary cause for those revocations is due to criminal activity. With the three most common criminal activities being DUI, assault, and theft,” he explained.
“And for comparison, in terms of the continuation of this vetting that we see as part of our continual vetting of visa holders, that 175,000, over 175,000 visa revocations is up from 100,000 in December,” Pigott said, explaining that this “shows the need for it [and] shows the results from our continuous vetting program.”
“And it shows our continued commitment to keep this program in place and make sure people are abiding by those standards I mentioned,” he added.
When asked by host Mike Slater what would have happened with these criminal visa holders if Democrats were still in charge, Pigott responded, “Nothing.”
“Well, if there’s criminal activity, for example, so oftentimes that works its way through the DOJ process. If someone, for example, goes to prison or whatever have you for a crime, and sometimes they were released back onto American streets with a visa, which is outstanding and shocking to me that there wouldn’t be a removal process,” he said.
“So that’s one example for this. Or other times, you had an example where prosecution was delayed,” he said, using the Laotian national pardoned by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as a primary example.
“A prominent example being one that we’ve discussed here before: The pardon of Laotian National that was convicted for heinous crimes that was then pardoned by Tim Walz to shield him from deportation as prosecution was delayed in that case, and then of course we saw the revocation of his legal status and the removal of that individual from the country by DHS and ICE,” he said.
“So it’s a case by case basis. … It’s common sense policy. If someone’s engaged in criminal activity, we’re under no obligation to allow them to remain into the country,” Pigott added.
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