DHS, Trump administration to crack down on visa overstays

Another hardline immigration push from the Trump administration — focusing efforts this time on foreign visitors who overstayed their visas.

On Monday, Trump signed a memorandum ordering the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to create policies within four months to crack down on visa overstays — foreigners who came to the United States legally, but chose to stay even after their visas expired.

One of the plans is to suspend or limit entry of individuals from countries with high rates of visa overstays.

As of March 2019, government data show that there are about 415,000 individuals in the U.S. with overstayed visas.

In a statement, Trump said, “We have laws that need to be followed to keep Americans safe and to protect the integrity of a system where, right now, there are millions of people who are waiting in line to come to America to seek the American dream.”

Determining the actual number of visa overstays has been challenging for the U.S. government, which only issued its first report on the scope of the problem back in 2016.

The report showed Canada and Mexico topping the list of the biggest offenders.

The Philippines was cited with more than 3,700 visa overstays for that period.