FIRST ON FOX: Newly sworn in Secretary of State Marco Rubio is advising his department to end refugee resettlement operations and begin ramping up visa checks for certain regions in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
After officially becoming his next secretary, Rubio steered Department of State to halt refugee resettlement programs, a senior department source told Fox News Digital.
He also ordered the department to carry out enhanced vetting of visa applications from “dangerous regions”.
The secretary quoted new executive orders signed by Trump after his inauguration on Monday.
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Rubio directed the department to begin taking certain actions in accordance with Trump’s executive orders. (Reuters)
Among dozens of executive orders, Trump signed one aimed at “Reorganizing the United States Refugee Admissions Program” and another at “[Protect] United States from foreign terrorists and other threats to national and public security.”
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President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The first mandated the suspension of the US Refugee Readmission Program (USRAP) due to its adverse impact on the country’s interests. The latest order calls for increased vetting of all foreigners, “to the greatest extent possible,” especially those “from regions or nations with identified security risks.”
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Trump’s refugee executive order further states that “the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security may jointly decide to admit aliens to the United States as refugees on a case-by-case basis, in their sole discretion, but only so long as they determine that the admission of such aliens as refugees is in the national interest and that he does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.”
Rubio was the first confirmed member of Trump’s cabinet, and the Senate voted unanimously Monday night.
Rubio ordered the State Department to suspend the refugee program. (Reuters)
He was sworn in Tuesday morning, becoming the 72nd secretary of state.
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Addressing the department Tuesday, Rubio said, “There will be changes, but the changes are not intended to be destructive. They are not intended to be punitive.
“The changes will be because we have to be a 21st-century agency that can move — which is a cliché that many use — at the speed of relevance. But we have to move faster than ever, because the world is changing faster than And we have to have the view that some say that it is called ‘look around the corner’.
A group of over 100 migrants attempting to enter the US illegally breach the border wall on March 21, 2024. (James Breeden for the New York Post/Mega)
“But we really need to think about where we’re going to be in five, seven, 10 or 15 years. Some of the issues facing humanity today have no precedent. They have no historical precedent. Some of the challenges we face have no historical precedent that can’t compare to other times, but things aren’t moving faster than ever,” he explained.
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Immigration has been a top priority of the Trump campaign during the 2024 election.
In his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump promised: “I will declare a national emergency on our southern border. All illegal entry will be stopped immediately. And we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places they came from. I will restore my policy stay in Mexico. And I will send troops to the southern border to repel a catastrophic invasion of our country.”
