As federal law enforcement officials conduct nationwide deportation raids, President Donald Trump and his deputies are turning their attention to ensuring that noncitizens in the U.S. legally are actually supposed to be here. According to multiple reports, the U.S. State Department is launching a review of over 55 million U.S. visa-holders and preparing to revoke the visas of those found to be ineligible to enter or remain in the U.S. and deport the former visa-holders.

The initiative will expand beyond those holding student visas, some of whom the Trump administration has previously investigated, and will include those in the U.S. on work, business, tourism, transit, and crew visas, and likely even those in the country on immigrant visas, intended to yield legal permanent residency.

“We review all available information as part of our vetting, including law enforcement or immigration records or any other information that comes to light after visa issuance indicating a potential ineligibility,” a State Department spokesman told media outlets. Visa-holders may have their visas revoked if they have stayed past the time they were authorized to be present in the U.S. or for any criminal or terrorist activity, in addition to other concerns.

In comments to The Washington Stand, Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said, “These announcements from the State Department reflect a significant upgrade in vetting procedures implemented by the Trump administration, which are appropriate given the current international threat environment.” She added, “Equally important, they are an opportunity to reverse some of the visa decisions made under the more lenient Biden rules, which enabled many people who are a threat or a potential security or safety threat.”

“It’s reassuring that the State Department recognizes that it should not wait for something bad to happen before it revokes the visas of people who should never have received them to begin with,” Vaughan observed. “Under Biden, relatively few people were interviewed and eligibility standards were relaxed, leading to many more issuances and many more overstays. The State Department is also mining the list of current visa holders to find people who have committed crimes and who have overstayed. These people obviously should not retain their visas, whether or not they happen to be here.”

“It’s a little surprising that this is not already standard practice, but we should welcome the improvement,” Vaughan added.

Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told TWS, “A review of all current visas is certainly warranted after years of lax vetting and issuance, and lack of immigration enforcement. Americans are shocked by the number 55 million.”

Ries continued, “By merely enforcing current immigration laws on the books, this Trump administration has really opened Americans’ eyes to just how much open border advocates, the administrative state, and aliens have exploited our immigration system for decades.”

The State Department is also halting the issuance of work visas for commercial truck drivers, following an incident in which an illegal immigrant driving a freight truck killed Americans on the road. “Effective immediately we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers. The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced via social media.

Vaughan commented, “It’s a legitimate question why we were ever allowing foreign truck drivers to operate here on temporary driving credentials issued under suspect standards. The risk is obvious.” She added, “Unfortunately, it took a tragedy in which Americans were killed for this policy to be changed, when American truckers have been complaining about the issue for many years.”

Last week, an Indian national illegally in the U.S. killed three Americans on the Florida Turnpike when he made an illegal U-turn without signaling. Federal authorities confirmed that the killer, Harjinder Singh, failed both an English proficiency test, which commercial truck drivers are legally required to pass, and a traffic sign identification test. Singh had been given a commercial driver’s license (CDL) by blue states California and Washington, despite his immigration status making him ineligible for a CDL. Since then, numerous videos have been posted to social media documenting freight truck wrecks and crashes, apparently featuring noncitizens.