In a recently conducted study, the National Foundation for American Policy (NAFP) unveiled that the Trump administration used a flawed overstay report by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prevent people from immigrating or gaining temporary visas to the United States of America.
According to their findings, DHS overstay numbers are frequently significantly higher than actual ones. This is because the reports include both persons who overstay and those whose departures were not properly reported.
As a result, the statistics used to support the travel ban may not accurately reflect the situation, VisaVerge reports.
The DHS reports attempt to track when people with temporary visas, such as B1/B2 visas, F-1 visas, or others, enter and leave the United States. If the system cannot certify that someone has left, they are considered a possible overstay. However, as the NFAP analysis indicates, many of these "overstays" are persons who fled the country but were not documented.
The report predicts that the US government is likely to continue citing the report illegitimately to uphold its travel ban, as per a Financial Express report.
The Trump administration used overstay statistics for temporary visas in other nations to prevent people from applying for green cards to enter and stay permanently in America.
Most notably, the government used overstay statistics on temporary visas from many countries to prevent people from permanently emigrating to become US citizens or lawful permanent residents, even though overstaying a green card is impossible.
The DHS report has serious problems and should not be utilised to impose broad travel bans, deny student visas, or make other immigration policy changes, according to the NFAP report.
On June 4, 2025, Donald Trump issued a proclamation prohibiting the entry of persons issued immigrant visas at a consulate (but who are not yet lawful permanent residents), as well as the entry of persons with temporary visas from 12 countries.
His administration imposed a similar travel ban on seven other countries but limited the temporary visa entry ban to tourists, business travellers, students, and exchange visitors.
With minor exceptions, the proclamation banned immigrants and holders of temporary visas from 15 of the 19 nations, citing overstay rates as the primary or secondary reason.
