Enhanced Enforcement on Visa Overstays

On June 4, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a press release announcing that the agency will enhance its efforts to detain, and deport if it can, nonimmigrants who failed to depart at the end of their authorized stay in the United States. According to the press release, DHS is “ramping up the review of immigration records and will take immediate appropriate actions to crackdown on visa overstays stemming from the Biden Administration’s failure to enforce the law.”

DHS’ crackdown comes in reaction to the terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado on June 1, 2025. An Egyptian national, Mohammed Sabry Soliman, violently attacked a group advocating for the release of Israeli nationals being held in Gaza. According to DHS, Soliman entered the United States with a visa in August 2022, but did not leave at the end of his authorized stay. DHS claims that Soliman is “illegally” in the country; however, some reports state that Soliman applied for asylum in September 2022, which would lawfully permit him to remain pending the decision.

We anticipate that the three immigration-focused sub-agencies, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement will band together to review records from 2020-2024 to identify foreign nationals who did not timely leave the United States. It is likely that the agencies will use submitted immigration applications, DMV records, criminal records, and IRS records to search for and potentially detain and remove those who overstayed.