The United States has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on air charter company executives for facilitating irregular migration to the United States. These actions respond to the growing trend of charter airlines offering flights into Nicaragua designed primarily for irregular migrants and are the first restrictions imposed under the expansion of our visa restriction policy last month.
These visa restriction actions target transportation companies’ predatory practice of profiting from vulnerable migrants and facilitating irregular migration to the United States. No one should profit from vulnerable migrants — not smugglers, private companies, public officials, or governments. We will continue engaging with governments within and outside the Western Hemisphere, as well as with the private sector, to work toward eliminating this exploitative practice, and will put in place additional visa restrictions as needed.
The visa restriction policy was announced in November 2023 and expanded on February 21, 2024.