The State Department announced on March 5 that it is imposing visa restrictions on foreign officials who facilitate illegal immigration into the United States.
The new policy will impact airport, port authority, customs, and immigration officials in other countries who “knowingly facilitate the transit of aliens intending to illegally immigrate into the United States via the U.S. southwest border,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
The policy will be added to a 2024 rule that impacts private sector officials who provide transportation and other travel services for illegal immigrants heading to the United States, according to his statement.
“These measures will continue until those officials take responsibility for ensuring there are policies in place and existing laws are enforced to prevent the transit of such individuals,” Rubio continued.
“America will not back down when it comes to defending our national security interests.”
Rubio’s statement was issued about a month after the Trump administration engaged in a high-profile dispute with Colombia’s government and president over allowing U.S. deportation flights to land in the South American country. Amid an impasse over the flights, the Trump administration ordered tariffs and placed visa restrictions on top-level Colombian officials before an agreement was made between the United States and Colombia to resume deportation flights.
President Donald Trump wrote in late January that he ordered “A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations” on Colombian government officials and others before the agreement was reached. “All Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government,” Trump wrote, would have been subjected to “Visa Sanctions” as well.
Since taking office, Trump has signed a number of executive orders targeting illegal immigration and bolstering security at the U.S.–Mexico border. On March 4, he also placed 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada for what he has said is the two countries’ failure to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs such as fentanyl into the United States.
Trump rolled back a Biden-era memo that limited immigration-related arrests of non-criminals or low-level offenders, emphasizing that anyone without legal status is subject to arrest and deportation. At the same time, his administration is pulling employees from the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and from the Justice Department, the IRS, and the State Department to assist with immigration enforcement.
“In February ... illegal border crossings fell to the lowest level ever recorded, down 94 percent from last February and down 96 percent from the all-time high of the Biden Administration,” the White House said in a statement on March 4.
In an update, the White House said it had removed about 50,000 illegal immigrants as of March 4.
The Department of Homeland Security has estimated that some 11 million immigrants lacked legal status in 2022, a figure some analysts say has climbed to 14 million. Trump said in December 2024 that he wanted to deport all immigration law violators.
ICE arrests spiked to around 800 to 1,200 per day during Trump’s first week in office, then fell off as detention centers filled up and officers deployed to major U.S. cities returned home.
