U.S. Department of State
The U.S. Department of State is the federal department responsible for conducting American foreign policy and diplomacy. Led by the Secretary of State, it manages relations with foreign governments, international organizations, and U.S. passport and visa services. In 2025-26 it was involved in actions related to refugee admissions, visa revocations, and communications with foreign governments on immigration and trade.
Also known as State Department
2026 Events (32)
Reporting revealed State Department had paused immigrant-visa interviews worldwide since early August
On August 25, 2026, reporting revealed that the State Department had paused immigrant-visa interview appointments at U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, notifying applicants by email that their appointments were being rescheduled. A State Department official said the pause began in early August 2026 as part of a global training initiative for consular officers evaluating whether applicants are "likely to become a public charge" reliant on U.S. assistance. The pause came days after a federal judge struck down the department's earlier suspension of immigrant-visa processing for 75 countries under the same public-charge rationale, ruling it exceeded the Secretary of State's statutory authority.
AP investigation revealed State Department preparing to revoke B1/B2 visas of up to 200,000 asylum seekers
The Associated Press reported on August 24, 2026 that the State Department, coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security, is preparing to revoke B1/B2 business and tourism visas from as many as 200,000 people who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum in the United States. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott confirmed on the record that the department is working with DHS to identify and revoke visas from people who entered as short-term visitors and later filed for asylum. Officials said the action, targeting visas issued between 2016 and 2026 on a rolling basis, would be the largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history.
Trump signed two new executive orders again restricting birthright citizenship after Supreme Court struck down his original order
On August 6, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders again seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. Barbara (June 30, 2026) that his original January 2025 order denying citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants was unconstitutional. The first order lists categories of U.S.-born children -- including those of "alien enemies," foreign government lobbyists, and members of terrorist organizations -- that it deems ineligible for citizenship, while the second delegates authority to the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to deny visas to and take enforcement action against travelers found to be engaged in "birth tourism."
State Department launched pilot bond program charging Dominican immigrant-visa applicants up to $250,000 to overcome public-charge denials
On August 5, 2026, the State Department, in coordination with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, launched a pilot program requiring certain immigrant-visa applicants from the Dominican Republic who had been denied on "public charge" grounds to post a bond — reported in individual cases at $100,000 to $250,000 — to overcome the denial. The pilot is separate from the department's existing nonimmigrant visitor-visa bond program, covering 50 countries at $10,000-$20,000, which became permanent August 3, 2026. Officials said the Dominican Republic was chosen first based on visa-processing volume and that the program could expand to other countries.
State Department published a report naming 40-plus American activists and officials as Cuban front groups
On July 21, 2026, the State Department released a 100-page report claiming Cuba's government has recruited American activists and influenced domestic political movements, naming more than 40 U.S. organizations and public figures — including the Democratic Socialists of America, Code Pink, Black Lives Matter, and members of Congress — as "front groups" or "fellow travelers" without providing evidence of actual direction from Cuba. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's department cited McCarthyera blacklists approvingly and framed domestic left-wing political activity as a national security threat.
Rubio convened a State Department summit of 66 nations framing 'far-left' political dissent as a transnational terrorist threat
On July 16, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted delegations from 66 countries in Washington for a State Department summit on what the Trump administration calls a global resurgence of "far-left political terrorism." Rubio and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told the assembled diplomats that leftist and Antifa networks operate across borders and require an international counterterrorism response, with Miller characterizing leftists broadly as motivated by "envy" and "hatred," and the State Department separately announced new visa restrictions targeting "Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned groups" the same day. Civil-liberties groups warned the gathering internationalizes a domestic framework already used to bring terrorism-linked charges against protesters.
Court filings revealed ICE and the State Department shared Iranian detainees' asylum records with Iran's government
On July 7, 2026, the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund sued the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and ICE in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleging that since March 2025 the agencies had shared confidential asylum-application and immigration files of Iranian asylum seekers with Iran's government while working to deport them. The Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations.
U.S. State Department bypassed congressional review of a $700 million fighter-engine sale to Turkey without invoking emergency authority
On June 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of State informed the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that it would bypass the congressional review process for a sale of roughly 80 GE F110 fighter-jet engines to Turkey worth more than $700 million, and would immediately proceed to formal notification of the sale. According to the ranking member, the department invoked no emergency authority, presented no written rationale, and had for months declined to brief the committee on the sale's implications, including Turkey's continued possession of the Russian S-400 air-defense system. The Arms Export Control Act provides Congress a statutory review period before major foreign military sales may proceed.
ProPublica investigation reveals Trump officials defied FY2026 appropriations, spending 5% of congressionally-mandated global health funds
A ProPublica investigation published June 22, 2026, found Trump administration officials broadly refused to comply with the FY2026 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, which Trump signed into law on February 3, 2026. The law directed $9.4 billion for global health programs including PEPFAR and more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid; the Office of Management and Budget labeled hundreds of millions in earmarked funds as "unallocated" to block their disbursement, while the State Department obligated just 5% of directed global health funds through March. Legal experts told ProPublica the conduct likely violated the Impoundment Control Act and constituted a constitutional crisis in the separation of powers.
United States deported about a dozen court-protected asylum seekers to Sierra Leone on second third-country flight
On June 18, 2026, about a dozen asylum seekers deported by the United States arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on the second U.S. deportation flight to the country under a third-country removal agreement. According to an attorney for one deportee and documents reviewed by the Associated Press, the migrants held U.S. court orders barring their removal to their home countries after judges found they faced credible fears of persecution. A briefing pamphlet distributed on arrival by a private contractor describes Sierra Leone as a "temporary transit location" where deportees are to be moved onward within 14 to 30 days, raising the prospect of return to the countries U.S. courts barred.
ProPublica investigation reveals State Department conditioned African health aid on data-system access
A ProPublica investigation published June 17, 2026 revealed that the State Department, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio's "America First Global Health Strategy," has conditioned billions of dollars in humanitarian health aid to African nations on direct access to those nations' health-data systems. Uganda agreed in December 2025 to give the U.S. real-time access to nine national health-data systems for seven years in exchange for aid; Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana rejected initial versions of similar deals. Data-privacy and global-health experts said the agreements are unusually broad and lack standard safeguards, raising re-identification risks for people with HIV and tuberculosis.
State Dept. opens investigation into deporting Trita Parsi, prominent critic of Trump's Iran war
The U.S. State Department has opened an investigation into Trita Parsi — an Iranian-born green-card holder of more than 25 years who co-founded the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the National Iranian American Council — reviewing whether to revoke his permanent residency and pursue deportation, according to The Free Press, which cited U.S. officials and documents it reviewed. Parsi has been among the most frequently quoted public critics of the Trump administration's military campaign against Iran. The State Department said it has "no plans to revoke the green card of Mr. Parsi at this time" but declined to rule out future action.
State Department blocked NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani's meeting with Colombia's President Petro
On June 10, 2026, the U.S. State Department intervened to block a planned meeting between New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Colombian President Gustavo Petro during Petro's visit to New York for U.N. events, warning Colombian officials in Bogotá that the meeting would violate the terms of the limited visa under which Petro had been admitted. Colombian delegates interpreted the U.S. statements as a threat that Petro could be arrested if he proceeded, and the meeting was cancelled. A senior State Department official said "a visa is a privilege, not a right"; Petro's U.S. visa had been revoked the previous fall after he criticized U.S. support for Israel and urged American soldiers to refuse President Trump's orders.
US State Department adds Central African Republic to its third-country deportation program
The U.S. State Department has negotiated an agreement for the Central African Republic to receive migrants of other nationalities deported by the United States — the latest expansion of the Trump administration's third-country deportation program. Rights groups and Senate Democrats say the program removes migrants who had secured immigration-court protections against repatriation, routing them to unrelated countries to circumvent those protections. The deal was struck at a May 18, 2026 meeting in Bangui led by State Department deputy assistant secretary Christian Jové Ehrhardt and reported by Reuters on June 7; a federal judge's May 22 restraining order shows US officials had already planned to remove a Turkish national to the country on May 26.
Trump administration proposes reserving 10,000 added refugee slots for white South Africans
On May 18, 2026, the State Department sent Congress an emergency determination proposing to raise the fiscal-year 2026 refugee admissions ceiling from 7,500 -- the lowest in U.S. history -- to 17,500, with all 10,000 additional slots reserved for white South African Afrikaners. The department justified the carve-out by citing an "emergency refugee situation" of race-based persecution, a characterization the South African government rejects. The expansion advances while U.S. refugee admissions from other countries remain effectively frozen: of the 6,069 refugees resettled between October 2025 and the end of April 2026, 6,066 were South African.
Dominican Republic reversed refusal, agreed to accept US third-country deportees
The Dominican Republic's Foreign Ministry announced on May 12, 2026 that it had signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with the United States to temporarily accept a limited number of third-country nationals — reversing President Luis Abinader's prior public refusal to take anyone but Dominican citizens. The agreement, part of the administration's "Shield of the Americas" initiative, excludes Haitian nationals and unaccompanied minors and had produced no confirmed transfers as of this filing.
State Department revokes U.S. visas of five La Nación board members in apparent retaliation
The U.S. State Department revoked the U.S. tourist visas of five of the seven board members of La Nación, Costa Rica's leading watchdog newspaper, in what the paper and press-freedom groups describe as retaliation for its critical editorial line. The board members received no formal notice or explanation — the department cited visa-record confidentiality — and reportedly first learned of the revocations through pro-government Costa Rican media. The move followed Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to Costa Rica and the paper's scrutiny of President Rodrigo Chaves, a Trump ally.
State Department orders consular officers to deny visas to applicants who fear returning home
On April 28, 2026, the U.S. State Department sent a worldwide diplomatic cable ordering consular officers to ask every nonimmigrant visa applicant two new verbal questions -- whether they have suffered harm or mistreatment at home and whether they fear harm if returned -- and to deny the visa to anyone who answers "yes" or refuses to answer. The directive, which covers tourist, student, and temporary-worker visas, converts an expression of protection-need into an automatic disqualifier and is part of a broader effort to screen out applicants who might later seek asylum.
State Department pressured stranded Afghan wartime allies in Qatar to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan
On April 22, 2026, officials running Camp As Sayliyah, a former U.S. base outside Doha, Qatar, told roughly 1,100 stranded Afghan evacuees that no third country had been secured for resettlement while continuing to press them to accept free airfare and cash stipends to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The camp holds former interpreters, Afghan special-operations personnel, and relatives of U.S. service members whom the Trump administration left stranded after freezing the Afghan special immigrant visa program in November 2025 and moving to close the camp. More than 200 residents had already returned to Afghanistan under the incentive program, where many face a credible risk of Taliban reprisal.
State Dept revoked green cards of Ebtekar's son's family, ICE detained them on kinship alone
On April 11, 2026, the State Department announced it had terminated the lawful permanent resident status of Los Angeles-area residents Seyed Eissa Hashemi, his wife Maryam Tahmasebi, and their teenage son, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement took the family into custody. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department cited no criminal or hostile conduct by the three, only Hashemi's parentage as the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, a former Iranian vice president who served as a 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis spokeswoman.
State Department canceled former Emory University professor's visa over father's Iranian government ties, without individual hearing
In January 2026, Emory University announced that Dr. Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, an assistant professor at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, was no longer employed there, after public pressure mounted following disclosure that her father is a senior Iranian government official and after the U.S. sanctioned him on January 15, 2026. In April 2026, the U.S. Department of State canceled her visa, terminating her legal immigration status. No individual adjudication or judicial proceeding preceded the revocation; the cancellation was made on the basis of her familial connection to an Iranian official.
State Dept revokes Iranian asylees' green cards on debunked Soleimani-relation claim
On April 3, 2026, ICE arrested Iranian asylees Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her adult daughter Sarina Hosseiny outside Los Angeles after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their green cards in a public statement identifying them as the niece and grandniece of slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. A subsequent Drop Site News investigation reviewing Iranian birth records, identification papers, and family wills found no familial connection to the late general — a finding corroborated by Soleimani's own surviving daughters in Iran. The women remain held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in San Antonio pending removal to Iran, where Hamideh, who has autoimmune hemolytic anemia, is reportedly being denied the transfusion treatment her condition requires.
State Department declares wartime emergency to bypass Congress on $23B in Mideast arms sales
On March 20, 2026, the State Department declared a national-security "wartime emergency" to bypass Congress and force through more than $23 billion in arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked emergency-certification authority under the Arms Export Control Act to waive the statutory congressional-review window across 11 weapons packages — some still under review on Capitol Hill, others never formally submitted to Congress. Coverage described it as the administration's second use of emergency authority to circumvent congressional approval of arms transfers since the war with Iran began.
State Department adds 12 countries to $15,000 visa-bond program
On March 18, 2026, the State Department added 12 countries — Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia — to its visa-bond program, requiring B-1/B-2 visitor-visa applicants from those nations to post a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 as a condition of issuance, effective April 2, 2026. The addition brings the program to 50 countries, predominantly lower-income states; bonded travelers may enter only through commercial airports and are barred from land, sea, charter, and general-aviation ports of entry.
Trump administration steered no-bid federal contracts worth up to $118M to Jan. 6 rally planner's firm Event Strategies
A March 18, 2026 New York Times report, later detailed in a July 2, 2026 House Natural Resources Committee Democratic staff oversight report, found that Event Strategies Inc.—an events firm formerly led by January 6 rally planner Justin Caporale—received an indefinite-delivery federal master contract worth up to $100 million plus more than $18 million in State Department contracts tied to the America250/Freedom250 anniversary events, all awarded outside competitive bidding. The State Department contracts, described blandly as "event planning" and "event support," listed the U.S. Chief of Protocol's office under Ambassador Monica Crowley as the funding office. Since the start of 2025 the firm had received 18 federal contracts connected to the semiquincentennial.
AP investigation revealed DHS, ICE, State Department and USCIS immigration data had gone stale amid Trump's deportation push
An Associated Press investigation published March 15, 2026 found that federal immigration-enforcement data from the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, the State Department, and USCIS had gone stale or stopped updating amid the Trump administration's mass-deportation push. DHS's Office of Homeland Security Statistics had not updated its monthly enforcement reports since early 2025, ICE's arrest/removal dashboard had not updated past January 2025, and State Department and USCIS statistics had also gone stale, while DHS made inconsistent, unverifiable public claims about deportation totals. Researchers, including the UC Berkeley/UCLA Deportation Data Project, had to pursue FOIA litigation to reconstruct basic enforcement figures.
State Department declares emergency to bypass Congress on $151.8M Israel bomb sale
On March 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of State approved an emergency Foreign Military Sale to Israel of 12,000 BLU-110A/B 1,000-pound bomb bodies and related support, valued at about $151.8 million. Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally determined that an emergency existed requiring the immediate sale, invoking Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act to waive the statutory congressional-review period. It was the administration's first AECA emergency declaration to bypass Congress on an arms sale to Israel, coming roughly a week into the joint U.S.-Israel air war against Iran.
United States signed third-country deportation agreement with Burundi, setting no cap on transfers
On February 12, 2026, the United States and Burundi signed a Memorandum of Understanding permitting the U.S. to deport third-country nationals -- migrants who are not Burundian citizens -- to Burundi, after Burundi had previously declined to sign without additional U.S. funding for the International Organization for Migration. The agreement, negotiated by the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security, was not made public until it appeared on the State Department's website in June 2026; it sets no cap on the number of transfers and states Burundi will not accept people with violent-crime records. As of this entry's recording, no transfers under the agreement are known to have occurred.
State Department orders all pre-2025 official X posts removed, accessible only via FOIA
The State Department directed all of its official accounts on X — including those of U.S. embassies and missions, ambassadors, and department bureaus and programs — to remove every post made before President Trump returned to office on January 20, 2025, spanning the Obama, first Trump, and Biden administrations. The posts will be internally archived but taken off public view, with anyone seeking them required to file a Freedom of Information Act request, a break from the usual practice of leaving prior administrations' agency posts publicly visible. A department spokesperson said the goal was to "limit confusion" and to "speak with one voice."
United States and Grenada signed third-country deportation MOU after months of resistance
The United States and Grenada signed a Memorandum of Understanding on January 30, 2026 in Washington, D.C., allowing the U.S. to propose third-country nationals for transfer to Grenada on a case-by-case basis. Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell had publicly resisted the arrangement for weeks, repeatedly telling reporters in January that Grenada had "not agreed to accept" any deportees, before signing alongside seven other Caribbean leaders at the State Department.
State Department suspended immigrant-visa processing for 75 countries citing "public charge" concerns
On January 14, 2026, the State Department announced it would suspend immigrant-visa processing for citizens of 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, and Somalia, effective January 21, citing a policy of vetting applicants for the likelihood they would rely on public assistance once admitted. The suspension, which builds on a November 2025 directive tightening "public charge" vetting, does not apply to nonimmigrant tourist or business visas.
St. Lucia signed non-binding third-country deportee MOU, faced disclosure-timing backlash
St. Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced during a New Year's address on January 11, 2026 that his Cabinet had approved a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with the United States on third-country deportees. Pierre faced domestic criticism for the timing of the disclosure, with commentators noting the deal appeared to have been finalized weeks before he announced it, and the agreement's text has never been publicly released.
2025 Events (38)
Palau's president signed deportee MOU despite legislature's repeated objections
Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. announced a Memorandum of Understanding on December 24, 2025 to accept U.S. third-country deportees in exchange for $7.5 million in aid, after Palau's Congress and Council of Chiefs had twice rejected the same proposal. The Palau Senate sued in February 2026 alleging the president lacked constitutional authority to enter what amounted to a treaty without legislative ratification, but a judge allowed implementation to proceed; the first deportee arrived in May 2026 and left after two weeks.
United States and DR Congo signed undisclosed third-country removal agreement
The United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo reached a third-country removal agreement via diplomatic notes dated December 24, 2025, not disclosed until the State Department posted it in June 2026. Fifteen people with U.S.-granted humanitarian protections were forcibly transferred to DRC on April 17, 2026, shackled throughout a 27-hour flight and given only 24 hours' notice of their destination; a U.S. judge later found one woman's removal was likely unlawful and ordered her return.
The State Department moved to exclude or deport five noncitizen researchers under a visa policy targeting online 'censorship'
On December 23, 2025, the State Department announced it would exclude or deport five individuals — including two leaders of Coalition for Independent Technology Research member organizations — under a visa-restriction policy that Secretary of State Marco Rubio first announced in May 2025 to target foreign "censorship" of Americans' speech. Initially framed as aimed at foreign officials, the policy had by then expanded into a broader campaign against noncitizen researchers, fact-checkers, and trust-and-safety workers who study social media platforms and online harms. Rubio said the Department "stands ready and willing to expand" the list if others did not "reverse course."
United States and Antigua and Barbuda signed non-binding third-country deportation MOU
The United States and Antigua and Barbuda signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding dated December 19, 2025, allowing the U.S. to propose transferring up to 10 "noncriminal refugees" per year to the Caribbean nation. The deal only became public in January 2026, after the U.S. imposed partial visa restrictions on Antigua and Barbuda effective January 1, 2026, prompting accusations from the political opposition that the timing amounted to coercion.
Dominica signed third-country deportee agreement with United States after visa threat
Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced on January 5, 2026 that his government had signed an agreement, dated to diplomatic notes from December 17, 2025, to accept third-country nationals the U.S. cannot deport to their countries of origin. The deal followed a December 16, 2025 U.S. proclamation restricting entry for Dominican nationals, and Skerrit declined to disclose which countries the transferred individuals would come from.
St. Kitts and Nevis signed CARICOM-only third-country deportation MOU with United States
St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew announced January 8, 2026 that his government had entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States, dated to December 12, 2025, allowing the transfer of CARICOM nationals — excluding Haitians and anyone with violent or sexual-offense records — who cannot be returned to their own countries. The first group, three people from Jamaica and Belize, was accepted in May 2026.
United States and Burundi agreed to transfer of nationals flagged as security risks
The U.S. Department of State proposed a third-country removal understanding to Burundi via diplomatic note dated December 8, 2025, explicitly contemplating the transfer of people who "raise national security or public safety concerns" — broader framing than most of the administration's other third-country notes. Burundi's government accepted, with a carve-out excluding people with violent criminal records, through a further exchange of notes completed February 12, 2026.
United States and Cameroon reached undisclosed third-country deportation agreement
The United States and Cameroon reached a third-country removal agreement through diplomatic notes dated December 8, 2025, which were not made public until June 2026. At least 36 people have been forcibly sent to Cameroon across four flights between January and May 2026, many of whom had been granted U.S. humanitarian protections against return to their home countries.
Guyana agreed to accept US third-country deportees despite no refugee treaty status
Guyana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed a diplomatic note dated November 25, 2025, expressing willingness to accept third-country nationals deported from the United States, retaining complete discretion over individual transfers. Guyana is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and has no domestic asylum legislation, leaving people transferred there — particularly those previously granted U.S. protection from removal — without the legal backstop that treaty accession would otherwise provide.
Sierra Leone agreed to accept US deportees, later described months in chains
Sierra Leone's government sent a note verbale on November 20, 2025 expressing willingness to accept up to 300 ECOWAS-citizen deportees from the United States per year; a January 2026 exchange of notes finalized the arrangement, adding that neither side intended to transfer people with violent criminal backgrounds. Nine people arrived May 20, 2026 — the first of two flights — and were described by a Sierra Leonean health ministry official as "traumatized due to the months in chains during detention in the US."
United States and Cabo Verde signed Asylum Cooperative Agreement diverting asylum seekers
The United States and Cabo Verde signed an "Agreement on the Transfer of Third-Country Nationals" at Praia on November 19, 2025, which entered into force the same day, allowing the U.S. to propose sending asylum seekers to Cabo Verde to pursue their protection claims there. Unaccompanied minors and people with serious criminal or gang histories are excluded, and no transfers had occurred as of this filing.
United States and Belize signed safe third-country agreement diverting asylum seekers
The United States and Belize signed a "safe third country" agreement on October 20, 2025, allowing the U.S. to transfer Central American and Caribbean asylum seekers to Belize to pursue protection claims there instead of in the U.S. The agreement's text was not made public and required ratification by Belize's Senate that November; the first deportation flight arrived July 10, 2026, carrying one Haitian asylum seeker.
State Department revoked six visas over foreign nationals' comments celebrating Charlie Kirk's assassination
The U.S. State Department's official X account announced on October 14, 2025 that it had revoked the visas of six foreign nationals -- citizens of Argentina, South Africa, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, and Paraguay -- over social-media comments celebrating the September 10, 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The department did not name the individuals, posting screenshots of their comments with usernames blacked out and stating "Visa revoked" after each, and said "the United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans."
United States paid Equatorial Guinea $7.5 million to accept deportees with US protections
The United States and Equatorial Guinea signed a Note Verbale dated October 2, 2025, under which the U.S. paid the authoritarian petrostate $7.5 million to accept deportees who could not be returned to their own countries. An Associated Press investigation published March 21, 2026 revealed the secretive deal and found that most of the at least 40 people eventually transferred there — including a 28-year-old East African refugee ICE agents allegedly beat after he refused to sign a voluntary-return document — had already been granted U.S. legal protection against removal home.
Trump signs EO 14351 establishing Gold Card pay-to-play immigrant visa, bypassing congressional immigration criteria
President Trump signed Executive Order 14351 on September 19, 2025, creating the "Gold Card" program, which directs the Secretaries of Commerce, State, and Homeland Security to treat a $1 million "unrestricted gift" to the Department of Commerce as evidence of eligibility for EB-1, EB-2, or national interest waiver immigrant visas — categories Congress designed for merit-based immigration, not financial payments. The order was published in the Federal Register on September 24, 2025. The program bypasses the EB-5 investor visa framework Congress established at 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5), which requires demonstrated job creation and minimum investment thresholds; the Gold Card requires neither.
United States and Liberia signed asylum protection-claims agreement
The United States and Liberia signed an "Agreement to Cooperate in the Examination of Protection Claims" via exchange of notes at Monrovia on September 10, 2025, entering into force the same day. Liberia separately agreed on October 24, 2025 to accept Kilmar Abrego Garcia "on a strictly humanitarian and temporary basis" following an October 17 meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Liberia's foreign minister; by August 18, 2026 the agreement had scaled into active use, with Liberia agreeing to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees.
United States deported protected migrants to Ghana under undisclosed third-country deal
The United States deported the first group of third-country nationals to Ghana on September 5, 2025, under an arrangement the BBC reported six days later; the deal's text has never been disclosed. At least 60 people have been forcibly sent to Ghana across four confirmed flights, many with U.S.-granted humanitarian protections, and Reuters later found Ghana forcibly returned at least 22 of them to their home countries despite U.S. court orders barring exactly that.
Rubio halted all new worker visas for commercial truck drivers via social media post, citing undocumented driver accident
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on August 21, 2025, via a post on X that the State Department was immediately pausing all new worker visa issuances for commercial truck drivers across all nationalities and visa categories, including H-2B, E-2, and EB-3. Rubio cited the August 12 fatal crash on Florida's Turnpike, in which the driver accused of causing three deaths was identified as undocumented — not a visa holder — as justification for suspending the legal immigration pathway. The pause was announced with no advance notice, no rulemaking, and no defined end date, affecting an industry already experiencing a significant labor shortage.
United States and Paraguay signed Safe Third Country Agreement at State Department
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Paraguay's Foreign Minister signed a Safe Third Country Agreement on August 14, 2025, allowing asylum seekers in the U.S. to pursue protection claims in Paraguay instead. A February 2026 addendum expanded the deal beyond asylum seekers to third-country nationals generally, and Paraguay has since rejected several proposed transferees for failing documentation checks.
United States and Uganda signed asylum transfer deal, later used to fast-track dismissals
The United States and Uganda signed an Asylum Cooperative Agreement at Kampala on July 29, 2025, published in the Federal Register that September, under which Uganda agreed to accept an unspecified number of asylum seekers with pending U.S. claims. ICE attorneys began citing the agreement to summarily dismiss asylum cases without a hearing, until internal DHS guidance obtained by the New York Times restricted such motions in December 2025; eight people had been forcibly transferred to Uganda as of April 2026, with mixed outcomes.
Rubio opened State Department investigation into Harvard's J-1 visa program with no stated misconduct
Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a letter to Harvard President Alan Garber on July 23, 2025, opening a formal State Department investigation into Harvard's participation in the Exchange Visitor Program, which sponsors J-1 visas for international researchers, instructors, and students. The letter alleged no specific misconduct, stating only that programs must not run "contrary to our nation's interests," and gave Harvard one week to produce a broad set of records. Harvard called the probe retaliatory and a violation of its First Amendment rights.
United States and Ecuador secretly signed Asylum Cooperative Agreement
The United States and Ecuador secretly signed an Asylum Cooperative Agreement in July 2025, formalized in diplomatic notes and published in the Federal Register on November 17, 2025 without any public evaluation of whether Ecuador is safe for transferred asylum seekers. The administration has since cited the agreement's existence to summarily dismiss over 18,000 asylum cases for removal to Ecuador, far more than the small number of people actually transferred.
State Department eliminated 1,353 positions in reorganization RIF, including its entire Consular Affairs evacuation team
On July 11, 2025, the U.S. Department of State carried out a reduction-in-force eliminating 1,353 positions as part of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's departmental reorganization, restructuring more than 300 bureaus and offices. The cuts eliminated the Bureau of Consular Affairs' entire rapid-response crisis-evacuation team, 102 cleared personnel trained to manage American evacuations abroad.
Kosovo agreed to accept up to 50 third-country deportees from United States
Kosovo's government confirmed on June 11, 2025 that it had agreed to temporarily host up to 50 migrants deported from the United States who are not Kosovar citizens, without disclosing which countries they would come from or whether the U.S. would pay Kosovo for its cooperation. The first deportee arrived that December and was granted temporary protection; Kosovo has not signed the Convention Against Torture or the 1951 Refugee Convention.
United States and Guatemala signed agreement diverting Central American migrants
The United States and Guatemala signed an agreement, effected by an exchange of diplomatic notes on June 11 and 13, 2025 and published in the Federal Register on July 15, 2025, allowing transfer of Central American nationals to Guatemala. President Bernardo Arévalo insisted it was not a "safe third country agreement," but DHS attorneys have since used it to summarily dismiss pending asylum cases, and most subsequent transfers to Guatemala have occurred outside the agreement's own terms entirely.
Rwanda agreed to accept up to 250 US deportees for $7.5 million payment
Rwanda's government confirmed in early August 2025 that it had agreed to accept up to 250 migrants deported from the United States, under a deal signed by officials in Kigali in June 2025, in exchange for a U.S. cash grant. The first seven deportees arrived in mid-August 2025; a Senate Foreign Relations Committee minority report later calculated the arrangement cost the U.S. more than $1 million per person transferred.
Secretary Rubio announced U.S. would aggressively revoke visas of Chinese students with CCP ties or in critical fields
On May 28, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department, working with DHS, would "aggressively revoke" visas for Chinese students with "connections to the Chinese Communist Party" or studying in "critical fields," with neither term defined. A senior administration official confirmed to Axios that the directive applied to all students from China, potentially affecting approximately 280,000 Chinese nationals then lawfully enrolled in U.S. high schools, universities, and graduate programs. Trump announced on June 11 that Chinese students would continue to be welcome and that their visas would not be revoked, but the original announcement had already disrupted fall enrollment planning at hundreds of U.S. universities.
State Department cable halted new student and exchange visitor visa interviews pending expanded social media and political-views screening
On May 27, 2025, the State Department issued a cable ordering U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide to immediately stop scheduling new visa interview appointments for all foreign nationals applying for F-1 academic student, J-1 exchange visitor, and M-1 vocational student visas, pending expanded social media vetting guidance. A follow-on cable on May 30 directed consular officers to apply "extra vigilance" in screening applicants for hostility toward the U.S. government and values — including ties to political activism and associations with disfavored groups — making political views an operative criterion for visa denial. The pause affected new interview scheduling for more than 1.5 million F/M visa holders and nearly 300,000 J-1 exchange visitors, a category that includes Fulbright scholars, professors, au pairs, and Summer Work Travel workers.
United States and Eswatini signed MOU for third-country deportations
The United States and Eswatini signed a Memorandum of Understanding dated May 14, 2025, made available on the State Department website that June. Under it, at least 30 people have been forcibly sent to Eswatini across four flights between July 2025 and July 2026; a DHS spokesperson described the initial group as "depraved monsters" despite several having U.S.-granted humanitarian protections.
State Department pressed tariff-threatened nations to approve Musk's Starlink, cables showed
Internal U.S. embassy and State Department cables obtained by The Washington Post and reported on May 7, 2025, showed officials repeatedly pressing foreign governments facing Trump administration tariff threats to approve regulatory access for Starlink, the satellite company owned by White House adviser Elon Musk. Lesotho received a 10-year Starlink license two weeks after Trump announced 50% tariffs, and India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo saw similar fast-tracked approvals. Eleven U.S. senators subsequently requested a federal ethics investigation into the arrangement.
United States redirected foreign aid to fund Costa Rica's interception of US-bound migrants
The U.S. and Costa Rica signed a Memorandum of Understanding on April 3, 2025 under which DHS funds and runs logistics for Costa Rica's own deportations of irregular migrants, primarily those transiting toward the United States. The State Department is redirecting up to $7.85 million from its Economic Support Fund — a foreign-aid line normally used for allied economic development — to DHS to pay for the program, modeled in part on a 2024 Biden-era deal under which the U.S. paid Panama to detain and deport migrants moving toward the U.S. border.
Rubio issued APA determination exempting all immigration and border regulations from notice-and-comment rulemaking
On March 14, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a determination in the Federal Register declaring that all federal efforts to control the entry and exit of people and goods at U.S. borders constitute a "foreign affairs function" under the Administrative Procedure Act. The determination invoked a narrow APA exception — historically limited to diplomatic agreements — to categorically exempt all immigration and border-control rulemaking by any federal agency from notice-and-comment requirements. The action eliminated the public's statutory right to review and challenge a broad category of federal regulations before they took effect.
United States and Honduras signed Asylum Cooperative Agreement capped at 240 transfers
The United States and Honduras signed an Asylum Cooperative Agreement at Washington on March 10, 2025, which entered into force June 25, 2025 and caps transfers at 10 people per month, 240 over its first two years. A Center for Gender and Refugee Studies fact-finding trip found Honduras meets neither of the legal standards — safety from persecution or access to full and fair asylum procedure — the agreement is supposed to guarantee, and documented a transferred Salvadoran man forced to flee the same gang he had escaped originally.
Secretary Rubio cancelled 83% of USAID programs, eliminating 5,200 congressionally-appropriated contracts
On March 10, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration had completed a DOGE-led six-week review and was cancelling 83% of USAID's programs — 5,200 of approximately 6,200 contracts — that had been congressionally appropriated. The remaining roughly 1,000 programs were to be folded into the State Department. The affected programs included HIV/AIDS treatment, malaria prevention, TB care, humanitarian food aid, and democratic governance work across dozens of countries.
Rubio issued State Dept cable directing consulates to deny visas and impose permanent fraud bar on transgender applicants
On February 24, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a cable titled "Guidance for Visa Adjudicators on Executive Order 14201: Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" directing all U.S. consulates worldwide to require visa applications to reflect applicants' sex at birth. The cable authorized consular officers to deny visas based on "reasonable suspicion" of transgender identity and to apply a permanent lifetime fraud bar under INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(i) to applicants found to have "misrepresented" their sex. While framed around athletes, the cable's Section 6 mandate applied to all visa categories.
United States deported 200 third-country migrants to Costa Rica without written agreement
The United States deported roughly 200 people, including 80 children, to Costa Rica on two flights in February 2025, before any written agreement existed governing the transfers. Deportees from Afghanistan, China, Iran, Russia, Uzbekistan, and other countries were held for months at a border migration facility with their passports confiscated, until Costa Rica's Constitutional Court ordered their release that June for violating their rights to legal counsel and information.
Panama accepted 299 third-country deportees under expanded, unwritten MOU
The United States and Panama expanded an existing Memorandum of Understanding on February 2, 2025, under which roughly 299 migrants and asylum seekers from Asian and other countries were forcibly transferred to Panama that same month, many expelled without any protection screening under a Trump proclamation suspending asylum access. Dozens remained stranded in Panama for months, held at a jungle-camp facility and a Panama City hotel, before human rights groups intervened.
Trump signed EO 14160 directing agencies to deny birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants and visa holders
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14160, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," directing the State Department, Social Security Administration, and Department of Homeland Security to refuse recognition of birthright citizenship for children born in the United States if neither parent was a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order purported to reinterpret the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, which the Supreme Court has held since 1898 grants citizenship to virtually all persons born on U.S. soil regardless of parental immigration status. Multiple federal courts issued injunctions blocking the order within days of its signing.
2024 Events (1)
Biden administration began funding Panama's deportation of US-bound migrants
The Biden administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Panama on July 1, 2024, under which the U.S. State Department and DHS fund and help run Panama's own deportation flights for migrants transiting toward the United States through the Darién Gap. The Congressional Hispanic and Black Caucuses had urged the administration to halt the funding before it was finalized, warning Panama's asylum system lacked the capacity to screen people — particularly Venezuelans and Haitians fleeing persecution — before returning them to danger.