The measure comes as part of the anti-immigration crackdown launched by President Donald Trump since his return to power.
According to White House spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt, the measure applies to immigration visas from January 21 and concerns applications from citizens of 75 countries, mostly from Africa, Asia and South America. But there are also European countries there – Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Russia. Unfortunately, the Republic of Moldova is also on this list.
Despite the presence of a number of European countries on the list, the American president does not hide his desire to reduce immigration of mainly non-European origin.
He called Somalis “scum” who should “go back to where they came from” and said he was open to the resettlement of Scandinavians in the United States.
The State Department announced Monday that more than 100,000 visas have been canceled since Trump returned to the White House, a record high for the year.
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security said the Trump administration had deported more than 605,000 people and another 2.5 million had left the country on their own.
The measure does not affect tourist or business visas, even though the Trump administration has promised to verify the social media information of all applicants.
