Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri says the Trump administration’s effort to revoke visas on a large scale represents the latest phase of an immigration crackdown that President Donald Trump began promising when he launched his first White House campaign more than a decade ago.
Schmitt praised the administration Wednesday during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” where host Laura Ingraham raised questions about the federal government’s ability to track foreign visitors entering and leaving the United States.
Ingraham pointed back to recommendations made following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including the use of biometric information in the immigration system.
“Senator, the fact that a quarter century after 9-11, we still don’t know to have those biometrics,” Ingraham said. “I don’t believe we have the biometric exit, entry, the fingerprints, do we? That was part of the 9-11 Commission’s recommendations as well for all visitors to the United States.”
She then turned to the Trump administration’s latest enforcement efforts.
Schmitt welcomed the tougher approach.
“Yeah, thank God, Laura, we have a president, we have an administration that is saying enough is enough, right?” he said.
Schmitt framed immigration as an issue extending beyond illegal border crossings.
“America is a nation, it’s our nation, it’s our home. It’s not some global refugee camp,” he said. “I can’t believe it’s taken this long, but we finally have a president who is cracking down on this.”
The Missouri senator argued that the immigration debate has concentrated too heavily on illegal immigration while paying insufficient attention to alleged abuses involving legal pathways into the country.
“We’ve not just had an illegal immigration problem, what we saw under the Biden years, we also have a legal immigration problem,” Schmitt said.
He specifically cited H-1B visas, Optional Practical Training, commonly known as OPT, and asylum claims originating with people who initially entered the United States on temporary visas.
“The abuse that we see with H-1B or the OPT or a lot of the asylum claims come from these temporary visas,” Schmitt said.
Those programs are distinct parts of the immigration system. H-1B visas allow qualifying employers to hire certain foreign workers in specialty occupations, while OPT provides temporary employment authorization to eligible international students. Asylum is a separate form of protection available to people who meet its legal requirements.
Schmitt nevertheless grouped them into a broader argument that the federal government needs to scrutinize legal immigration more aggressively.
“The president is now saying, you know, enough is enough of that, and we’re going to crack down on it,” he said.
For Schmitt, that approach is not a sudden change in Trump’s political agenda.
He traced it directly back to Trump’s entrance into presidential politics in 2015 and the immigration-focused campaign that carried him through the 2016 election.
“I think this is part of the central plank, Laura, that he ran on when he came down the escalator back in 2016,” Schmitt said.
“And so, for 10 years now, no president has done more to take on these issues than President Trump, and this is the next phase of that.”
Schmitt made clear that he wants the administration to go further.
“I think we want to see more of this,” he said. “And finally, we’re going to have a president that’s serious about taking on this immigration thing.”
The senator then turned his attention to Democrats, accusing them of supporting policies that encourage illegal immigration and questionable asylum applications.
“And by the way, the Democrats, they don’t know what to do because they want to flood this country with illegal immigrants,” Schmitt said.
He also asserted that “9 out of 10” asylum claims are “bogus” and characterized Democratic support for existing immigration policies as a political “power play.”
The Trump administration’s immigration agenda is no longer centered solely on people entering the country illegally. Visa holders, temporary workers, foreign students and other people who entered through legal channels can also face increased scrutiny depending on their status and compliance with immigration law.
That is precisely the direction Schmitt says Trump promised to take years ago.
For the Missouri senator, mass visa revocations are not a departure from the Trump immigration platform. They are what he considers its next phase.
