Trump Admin's 100,000 Visa Revocations: A Record, Or Just the Warm-Up?
Al-Monitor highlights the State Department's announcement that the Trump administration revoked over 100,000 visas, touting it as a 'new record' under a 'hardline immigration policy.' The implication, of course, is that such actions are somehow unique to one administration. Yet, the foundations for such maneuvers were meticulously laid and expanded by previous administrations, Democrat and
Republican alike, often with little mainstream media outcry beyond the usual 'border security' platitudes. The infrastructure to arbitrarily deny or revoke entry wasn't built overnight, nor was it disassembled after 2020. One might wonder why a 'record' is treated as a sudden, isolated event rather than the logical (and perhaps intended) outcome of decades of tightening immigration laws and
expanding executive discretion. Where was the sustained outrage when components of this 'hardline' approach were incrementally introduced under the guise of national security, long before the reality show presidency? It appears some 'records' are only truly shocking when the conductor changes, not when the orchestra plays the same tune.