Trump admin freezes visa processing for 75 countries, including Iran, Russia, and yes Somalia

The State Department is slamming the brakes on immigrant visa processing for 75 countries. The goal? Crack down hard on applicants likely to become a public charge and drain American resources.

A State Department memo, obtained first by Fox News Digital, orders consular officers to refuse visas under existing law while the department reviews and strengthens screening and vetting procedures.

The affected countries include Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand, Yemen, and dozens more.

Somalia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Nigeria, Thailand among nations hit by indefinite pause starting Jan. 21.

Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda are on the new restrictions list from the Trump administration over concerns with their Citizenship by Investment programs. Here's a look at the stunning Antigua coastline that draws so many visitors.

This pause kicks in January 21 as mentioned, and continues indefinitely until a full reassessment of immigrant visa processing is complete.

Somalia has been under intense federal scrutiny after a massive fraud scandal exploded in Minnesota. Prosecutors exposed widespread abuse of taxpayer-funded benefit programs, with many involved being Somali nationals or Somali-Americans.

Back in November 2025, a State Department cable went out to posts worldwide, directing consular officers to enforce tough new screening rules under the "public charge" provision of immigration law.

The guidance tells officers to deny visas to anyone likely to rely on public benefits. They weigh everything: health, age, English proficiency, finances, and even potential future need for long-term medical care.

Here are views of the Quality Learning Center in Minnesota, which sat at the heart of the alleged childcare fraud scandal rocking the state.

Older or overweight applicants could face denial, as could anyone with any past use of government cash assistance or institutionalization.

"The State Department will use its long-standing authority to deem ineligible potential immigrants who would become a public charge on the United States and exploit the generosity of the American people," State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggott said in a statement.

"Immigration from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits."

This image shows the sign at Quality Learning Center, [formerly known as the Quality Learing Center] where manager Ibrahim Ali denied any fraud despite explosive reports from independent journalist Nick Shirley. The scandal broke right before the State Department hit pause on visa processing.

The pause starts January 21 and runs indefinitely until the department finishes reassessing visa processing.

While the public charge rule has been on the books for decades, enforcement has swung wildly depending on the administration. Consular officers have historically had broad discretion.Exceptions to this new pause will be "very limited" and only granted after an applicant fully clears public charge concerns.

The 2022 Biden-era version of the rule narrowed things down, mostly to cash assistance and long-term institutional care, while excluding programs like SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, or housing vouchers.

The Immigration and Nationality Act has always allowed consular officers to block applicants on public charge grounds. President Donald Trump expanded the definition in 2019 to cover a much wider range of benefits. Courts challenged that expansion, parts got blocked, and the Biden administration rescinded it.

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Here are more images from the Minnesota childcare fraud investigation that helped fuel this crackdown.

The full list of affected countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. And a partridge in a pear tree.

America First means protecting our generosity from exploitation. This is a big step in that direction.

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Prince Harry may have lied on his visa application or been given special treatment only reserved for non-peons

Meghan Markle's husband, Prince Harry of merry old England, had his immigration status scrutinized by a conservative think tank that believe he may have fibbed on his visa filings. It's also possible that he was given special treatment by President Biden's decision-maker, whoever that is, in the Department of Homeland Security, a government agency that has become as impotent as a sperm donor who was given a photo of "The View" as incentive to perform.

The Heritage Foundation, citing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) asked the DOH for a copy of Harry's visa file, noting that in order to obtain a residency permit, the person must answer if he or she has ever used illicit drugs. Should the applicant answer "yes," they can be denied the visa. Harry may have answered "no," and that would have been a lie; or he could have simply answered "yes" and lied about his past. 

Either way, he should be investigated.

“I think what happens with this FOIA request has a direct impact on what happens with Harry’s future in the U.S. if indeed he wants to become a permanent U.S. resident or a U.S. citizen,” Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Mail.

“The stakes are very high here,” Gardiner added.  “This issue of a visa application has major implications for his future in the United States.”

Seriously? Does anyone really believe that certain individuals are treated the same as the unwashed masses? Harry may be a ginger, an idiot, and a pain in the ass, but he's a royal pain in the ass.

As far as the possibility that Harry argues the DHS documents should remain private, Gardiner stated, “Harry can talk all he likes about protecting privacy, but he’s just written a massive book outlining all of his drug use. I’d say this isn’t a very smart move.”

Nobody ever has accused Harry of being intelligent.

“No one should be above the law,” Gardiner declared. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a member of the Royal Family, everyone should be treated the same.”

“I think it’s in the public interest to know whether or not Harry was completely transparent in documenting all of his drug use that he outlined in ‘Spare,’” Gardiner said. “I think that the public will be really outraged if he was admitted to the United States through a system of preference and privilege, or he got in without revealing the full information.”

They should have the Harry dilemma as an episode on tv's Border Security and have a dog sniff his luggage.

In his blockbuster book “Spare,” Harry admitted using cocaine and the psychedelic drug ayahuasca; the latter is illegal in the United States unless used for religious purposes.

Harry should immediately be deported along with his lovely wife Meghan.

Heritage Foundation attorney Samuel Dewey, who formerly supervised oversight and investigations on the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, warned that if DHS does not produce the records by April 12, the foundation will sue the federal government.

“Even if he came in through a visa, it still has to be cleared by DHS, because you also have to be admissible to the country,” Dewey claimed. “Our request concerns whether or not he’s admissible without a waiver, given his long history of narcotics use. Individuals in the past with that history have not been let into the country.”

“There’s a precedent for getting this immigration information from the immigration authorities,” Dewey stated. “The first question that a court will ask is, how much of a privacy interest is there here? And we think it’s as low as it can be. This is a public figure who’s been notoriously open for commercial gain. He has so aggressively put himself into the public for his commercial benefit that it’s a perfect storm of diminished privacy rights.”

“The second question the court will ask is what is the public interest?” Dewey continued. “We’ve got a serious problem with our immigration system in this country. And a big part of that problem is laws are not being enforced.”

“If they’re spending a lot of time giving a special unjustified preference to Prince Harry, how does that affect the common immigration applications where people have carefully dotted every I and crossed every T?” he asked.

It's obvious to even the casual observer, that Prince Harry's narcotics history has affected his brain, and he doesn't have any extra neurons to spare. But at least he has Meghan to do his thinking for him.

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Mastercard cut off payments to David Horowitz's think tank based on SPLC label

You cannot go farther left in social/political views than the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

The David Horowitz Freedom Center, a conservative think tank, had its Mastercard donation system blocked by the company based upon the SPLC's labeling them a hate group. It was originally reported that Visa had done the same, but have since denied being involved in the blacklisting of the Freedom Center.

The hate group label came shortly after Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch was removed from the funding platform of Patreon after Mastercard pressured them. Spencer, who is an expert on Islam, especially as to how it relates to terrorism, has never personally expressed any form of hate other than to quote Islamic scripture.

The SPLC is using Mastercard, and possibly other funding avenues, to shut down conservative voices by blocking their donations from reaching them. Horowitz sent out an email to his followers requesting they support the organization by sending donations to a PO Box.

An example of the email can be seen below.

Hopefully the supporters will not allow the Freedom Center to fold.

Horowitz responded to Breitbart News' follow up:

We have been attacked by the left wing hate machine whose goal is to suppress and silence conservative voices. This is the work of a Soros funded Media Matters and Southern Poverty Law Center operation. It's cynical, calculated and supported by the Democratic Party. The reason Mastercard and Visa gave us for cutting us off and thus sabotaging our online fund-raising operation is that the SPLC told them that we were a hate group. It is wrong to focus on the Tech heads as the culprits because as businessmen they have a vested interest in keeping their platforms politically neutral. They have been threatened by Senator Mark Warner and other Democrats if they don't censor conservatives. The fact that Mastercard and Visa are now part of this juggernaut indicates how dangerous this has become.

Visa reached out to Breitbart News' request for comment, denying any involvement in cutting off the Freedom Center from payment processing. They further stated that they were not even aware of the Freedom Center's blacklisting before the article was published by Breitbart News.

First they came for Facebook accounts. Then they came for Instagram and Pinterest. When will they come for me? For you?


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