The United States announced Wednesday that it would suspend processing immigrant visas from Nigeria and 74 other countries. This is President Donald Trump’s latest action against foreign nationals seeking to come to the United States.
The United States has long denied visas to people it deems likely to end up in need of government welfare, but the State Department has now announced it will use similar authority to suspend immigrant visas entirely based on nationality.
“The Trump Administration is committed to ending the abuse of our immigration system by those seeking to extract wealth from Americans,” State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott said.
“Processing of immigrant visas from these 75 countries will be suspended and the State Department will reevaluate its immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of aliens receiving welfare and public benefits,” he said.
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White House press secretary Caroline Levitt posted on X that affected countries would include not only Russia and Iran, but also Somalia, which President Trump has lashed out at after being embroiled in an immigration funding scandal in Minnesota.
Levitt linked to a Fox News article that said other countries affected would include Brazil, Egypt, Thailand, and many other countries with friendly relations with the United States.
The State Department did not immediately release a complete list of countries.
President Trump has made no secret of his desire to reduce immigration by people of non-European descent. He described Somalis as “trash” who should “go back to where they came from” and said he was open to Scandinavians immigrating to the United States instead.
The State Department announced Monday that it has canceled more than 100,000 visas since President Trump returned, a single-year record.
The Department of Homeland Security announced last month that the Trump administration had deported more than 605,000 people, with the remaining 2.5 million voluntarily leaving the country.
The move does not affect tourist, business or other visas, including those for soccer fans who want to visit for this year’s World Cup, but the Trump administration has vowed to scrutinize the social media history of all applicants.
complete list
Below is the complete list of countries affected by the US government’s latest actions.
1. Afghanistan
2. Albania
3. Algeria
4. Antigua and Barbuda
5.Armenia
6. Azerbaijan
7. Bahamas
8. Bangladesh
9. Barbados
10. Belarus
11. Belize
12. Bhutan
13. Bosnia
14. Brazil
15. Burma
16. Cambodia
17. Cameroon
18. Cape Verde
19. Colombia
20. Ivory Coast
21. Cuba
22. Democratic Republic of the Congo
23. Dominica
24. Egypt
25. Eritrea
26. Ethiopia
27. Fiji
28. Gambia
29. Georgia
30. Ghana
31. Grenada
32. Guatemala
33. Guinea
34. Haiti
35. Iran
36. Iraq
37. Jamaica
38. Jordan
39. Kazakhstan
40. Kosovo
41. Kuwait
42. Kyrgyzstan
43. Laos
44. Lebanon
45. Liberia
46. Libya
47. Macedonia
48.Moldova
49. Mongolia
50. Montenegro
51. Morocco
52. Nepal
53. Nicaragua
54. Nigeria
55. Pakistan
56. Republic of Congo
57. Russia
58. Rwanda
59. Saint Kitts and Nevis
60. Saint Lucia
61. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
62. Senegal
63. Sierra Leone
64. Somalia
65.South Sudan
66. Sudan
67.Syria
68. Tanzania
69. Thailand
70. Togo
71. Tunisia
72. Uganda
73. Uruguay
74. Uzbekistan
75. Yemen
AFP
