Thousands of visas have probably been revoked by the State Department since President Donald Trump took office, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. The estimate marks a significant increase from late March, when Rubio said student visa cancellations stood at 300.
00:00Back in March, you noted that you had revoked some 300 student visas using the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act,
00:08which specifically says the Secretary of State can revoke a visa if an alien's activity in the U.S. would have a serious adverse foreign policy consequence.
00:19And that issue of 300, what's the number up to now? How many visas have you revoked?
00:25I don't know the latest count, but we probably have more to do.
00:29Can you give us an estimate?
00:31Probably in the thousands at this point, depending. Not all of them are under that statute. Some are people. So there's two visa revocations.
00:38I don't want to go into SEVIS. It's a separate issue.
00:40No, no, no. They're related, but we can't conflate them because they're two different.
00:43One is the one you've decided, National Interest of the United States.
00:46Some of the visa revocations are happening because somebody violated the terms of their visa.
00:50They dropped out of school or they got convicted of a crime or some criminal investigation.
00:53Those are separate from what you've said.
00:55So 300 in March, but now 1,000. How many under this 1952 Act?
01:00I'd have to get you a good answer, but probably under 1,000.
01:03But I'd have to get you the right answer.
01:04I don't want to speculate about the exact number.
01:06And I'll tell you, this particular thing does bother me.
01:13And you testified in Louisiana Immigration Court a pretty expansive interpretation of that 1952 law,
01:19saying that it could be for citizens, it extends to any non-citizen for past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or association.
01:29And that expected really caught my mind.
01:31This power rests solely, this 1950 law rests solely with you.
01:36And your interpretation sounds like you're saying if you, the Secretary of State,
01:41think you expect someone's beliefs or statements, past, current, or future,
