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The Trump administration is proposing new, severe restrictions on how long foreign journalists would be permitted to live and work in the United States. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) opposes the proposed visa change as it serves no purpose other than to erect unnecessary barriers for foreign reporters and will produce a chilling effect on press freedom. RSF calls on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to abandon the proposal.
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On August 28, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposal to introduce a fixed term for the visas used by foreign journalists to work and live in the United States. Currently, these visas last indefinitely as long as the visa holder remains in compliance with certain terms. Under the new proposed system, these visas would be restricted to 90 days for Chinese nationals and 240 days for citizens of other countries. A DHS press release alleged, without evidence, that the current visa system for journalists pose “safety risks.”
These changes would create an undue burden for journalists, requiring them to repeatedly clear bureaucratic hurdles every seven months and creating a great deal of uncertainty every time a renewal deadline approaches. Even more dangerously, it sets up a system with high potential for abuse, as the Trump administration systematically punishes journalists and news outlets that criticize its policies, and has repeatedly tried to deport non-US citizens for their political _expression_.
In one such ongoing high-profile case, DHS has tried to remove Turkish-born PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk from the country in retaliation for her co-authorship of an article critical of Israel's war in Gaza. The new visa restrictions will leave journalists wondering if their visas will be cancelled because a single public official disapproved of the content of their journalism. It could lead to self-censorship and even the deportation of journalists whose only misstep was to report the news honestly.
The proposed rule change mirrors a similar measure that was proposed during Trump’s first term as president and was ultimately abandoned by President Biden. The public will have until September 29, 2025 to comment on the measure while DHS weighs whether to implement the change.
“Reporters Without Borders is deeply concerned about the effect the proposed visa restriction would have on journalism and press freedom in general. Foreign journalists can’t constantly be looking over their shoulders, fearing deportation in retaliation for a story they reported that the US government doesn’t like. This policy could force hundreds of journalists to leave the country, robbing both American and international audiences of vital coverage of the United States. It serves no purpose other than to create new barriers to journalism, and it’s closer to what we expect from the Chinese Communist Party than from the nation of the First Amendment. The arbitrary non-renewal of visas for journalists is a common tactic used by authoritarian regimes to expel reliable reporters."
Clayton Weimers
Executive Director, RSF USA
Foreign members of the media typically receive “I visas” to work in the US, which can be extended to last for years. Some journalists working in the United States have “J visas,” formally known as Visitor Exchange Visas, which are intended to foster cultural and educational exchanges. Many of the journalists working for the US Agency of Global Media, before nearly all of them were dismissed, possessed J visas. The new proposed rules would place the same restrictions on both types of visa holders. About 13,000 members of the media were granted visas in fiscal year 2024.
The first Trump administration aggressively denounced the same type of visa restrictions when they were employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a 2020 regulation that restricted the length of visas issued to Chinese journalists in retaliation for the CCP’s treatment of American journalists. In DHS’ own words, there was “a suppression of independent journalism in the PRC [People’s Republic of China], including an increasing lack of transparency and consistency in the admission periods granted to foreign journalists.” The Trump administration went even further, stating these practices represented “an escalation of hostile measures targeting a free press within [China’s] borders.”
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REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS / REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES (RSF)
Peter Jones
Press/Communications Officer, Washington, DC Bureau
pjones@rsf.org
(202) 813-9497, ext 3
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