The Trump administration has intensified its crackdown on foreign nationals with criminal records, revoking more than 100,000 visas in 2025, with drunk driving offenses being a significant factor. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott emphasized that visa decisions are national security decisions and that enforcing visa security is integral to border security.
"Every visa decision is a national security decision," Pigott told Fox News Digital. "Of course, when we think of border security, we think about the Southwest border, but visa security is border security. It's who we're allowing into the country legally, and if they operate in a way that is grounds for revocation, we're going to protect the American people."
The number of revoked visas in 2025 more than doubled the figure from President Joe Biden's final year in office. While visa overstays accounted for a portion of these revocations, Pigott noted that criminal activity was another primary reason, with drunk driving arrests frequently leading to visa cancellations.
"Fundamentally, if you break the law, that is grounds for revocation," Pigott stated. "If you break law, you break terms of your visa, or you undermine the national security of the United States, that's grounds for a revocation of your visas."
Examples cited by Pigott include a foreign national who caused injury while driving under the influence and another individual who appeared intoxicated at a court-mandated DUI program. "Driving drunk on streets is incredibly dangerous," Pigott said. "It's part of a broader initiative from the Trump administration to make sure that our streets are safe. And that includes illegal immigrant drivers, that includes foreigners here on visas that are driving drunk on our streets. We're not going to tolerate that. We are going to protect the Americans."
A case highlighted from Oklahoma involved Michael Rosario-Cruz, 27, who was allegedly driving drunk the wrong way and crashed into another vehicle, killing four young people. Rosario-Cruz, who was reportedly living in the U.S. under DACA protections, faces multiple charges, including four counts of second-degree murder. Empty beer bottles were reportedly found in his car.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed a detainer on Rosario-Cruz. The State Department's revocation of a visa is the initial step in removing a foreign national, according to Pigott. The subsequent actions, such as deportation, depend on whether the Justice Department pursues criminal prosecution and are decided on a case-by-case basis.
"When that visa is revoked, there's a couple different elements that can happen," Pigott explained. "You could see someone leave the country after serving a prison sentence, for example. Ultimately, DHS then makes the termination about the next step of appropriate action, whether that's deportation, whether that is deportation after serving prison sentence, so it really is a case-by-case basis."
The administration's policy, described as an "America First visa policy," centers on continuous vetting and enforcement after a visa has been issued. "We're going to do what's necessary to protect the American people, we're going to enforce our immigration law and we're gonna make clear when it comes to this visa process we are going to continuously vet people here on visas — we're going to have an America first visa policy," Pigott stated.