Trump administration’s grand scheme to keep out folks from countries with sketchy vetting standards has hit the snooze button—indefinitely. No new date, no big reveal, just a whole lot of “we’re working on it” from the State Department. It’s like they’re planning a surprise party, but forgot to send the invites.
It all started when President Donald Trump, on his very first day back in the Oval Office, scribbled an executive order demanding a report by March 21. The mission? Round up a list of countries whose vetting processes are so bad they’d make a TSA agent weep, and slap visa restrictions on them faster than you can say “passport stamp.”
We’re talking over 40 nations—Iran, Russia, Venezuela, you name it—potentially getting the “Sorry, not sorry” treatment, building on Trump’s first-term travel ban that the Supreme Court gave a thumbs-up to back in 2018.
But March 21 came and went, and instead of a shiny new list, we got a shrug. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce took to the podium Monday to declare the original deadline a “target date that no longer applies.” Why? Who knows! It’s like they lost the report in the couch cushions and are too embarrassed to admit it.
“We’re acting on the executive order,” Bruce insisted, probably while crossing her fingers behind her back.
When pressed for a new deadline, Bruce delivered a masterclass in dodging: “No, there’s no date, but that doesn’t mean we’re not working on it!”
Sure, Tammy, and I’m “working on” my Oscar-worthy screenplay while binge-watching reality TV. The White House, meanwhile, decided silence was golden and declined to comment. Classic.
The plan was supposed to be a team effort—secretary of state, director of national intelligence, attorney general, and homeland security secretary all huddling up to decide who gets the visa ban hammer.
Trump even threw in a retro vibe, telling them to use his old vetting standards from last time as a starting point. He also wanted a headcount of how many folks from these problem countries slipped in under Biden’s watch, with orders to boot out anyone who doesn’t pass muster now.
Speaking of boots, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s been busy playing visa whack-a-mole. “If we wouldn’t have let you in knowing what we know now, sayonara!” he quipped, revealing that 300 student visas have already gotten the chop.
And the action’s heating up: ICE nabbed a Turkish grad student at Tufts for allegedly cheering for Hamas, Customs deported a Lebanese doctor from Rhode Island over Hezbollah fan mail on her phone, and a Syrian Columbia protest leader got detained too. Even a Korean student’s suing to keep her green card. It’s like a global game of “Guess Who?”—but with higher stakes and worse odds.
Rubio says they’re reviewing student visas and beyond, sniffing out criminals and troublemakers. “Some of these folks have active visas and rap sheets—unrelated to protests, just good old-fashioned potential crime,” he noted, probably while sipping coffee and marveling at the chaos.
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