moral turpitude
I thought that was the new US motto they were going to put on the money?
Uncle Sam tells overseas cybercrooks their visas are canceled
Marco Rubio says the US will deny visas to foreign nationals involved in cybercrime and may extend the restrictions to their immediate families. The US secretary of state announced the restrictions on Thursday, citing a rise in overseas investment scams "often orchestrated by Chinese transnational criminal organizations." Rubio …
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Friday 31st July 2026 18:24 GMT MachDiamond
Re: The biggest crooks
"Trump has been declared immune from any investigation by the Supreme Court. "
For most crimes, the President and Vice President are not subject to prosecution while in office, but that doesn't apply to investigations going on unless that involves depositions and other requirements that take the President's time. The bringing of charges via Congress (impeachment) is supposed to be for those more serious things that generally involve crimes that pervert the office of the President. To keep having a President taking time away to answer allegations of improprieties that happened decades ago is a problem. I'm not saying things happened or didn't, but many allegations are not honest or so nebulous that proof is nearly impossible.
Stack up the petit stuff and hit a Former President with them a day or two after they leave office. At that point they are unemployed and have plenty of time every day to sit in a small room giving court ordered depositions.
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Friday 24th July 2026 18:28 GMT Anonymous Coward
Why don't they let the alleged criminals in and arrest them?
If these are criminals who have- presumably- conducted these alleged crimes against the US from outside the country, where it's going to be harder or impossible for the US to get them... then wouldn't it make more sense to allow them in, arrest them at customs and leave them to the mercies (or otherwise) of their justice system?
The worst that can happen is they see it happening to other people, get suspicious or paranoid and don't come to the US after all. But if they weren't going to be let in anyway, what difference does that make?
I mean, I wouldn't trust the current US regime as far as I could throw them to either target people fairly- i.e. people they believe to be genuine criminals rather than political enemies- or to give them fair treatment under the justice system.
But from a purely logical, amoral, self-serving point of view, why wouldn't they?
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Saturday 25th July 2026 00:55 GMT AVR
Re: Why don't they let the alleged criminals in and arrest them?
It's expensive, and they may not be able to access the criminal's assets to defray the cost. They may even not win the cases, especially (but not only) if they rely on info with sources the spies don't want to give up. And it's probably a performative policy anyway, the people who know they're known to US authorities will be keeping out of their way and not trying to enter the country.
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Friday 24th July 2026 20:22 GMT JWLong
Why?
.....are known cybercrooks/thieves allowed visa's in the first place?
If I get a parking ticket and don't pay for it, I can't renew my drivers license or register my car next year. But, the feds will issue known crooks a visa to visit the country.
There's something wrong there and it's not to hard to see either!
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Sunday 26th July 2026 18:46 GMT doublelayer
Re: Why?
They probably don't. While they've probably issued visas to people with small previous convictions, those they are investigating would already be flagged, allowed in only if they thought it would let them make an arrest or collect more data for that, and otherwise refused as they routinely do. This policy is unlikely to have any effect and was probably announced to make you ask the question you just did, suggesting that there was some other policy before which they conveniently don't specify.
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Friday 24th July 2026 22:43 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Makes perfect sense, but what happens
Former U.S. Foreign Service Officer here. No, there is no appeals process or other recourse if for any reason your visa application is denied or if your visa is revoked. What happens in real life is, if you're an average person, tough luck. If you are a big shot, or have a friend or family member who is, then strings are pulled and the visa is magically issued or reinstated.
As you might imagine, successful and wealthy white collar criminals have strings to pull, so you can also imagine what the net result of this policy is likely to be.
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Friday 31st July 2026 18:27 GMT MachDiamond
Re: Makes perfect sense, but what happens
"Do they have any recourse to prove they aren't that person, or is it just bad luck if their identity was stolen and used by a cybercriminal or the cops just plain got it wrong?"
Of course that never happens as the force is always extremely diligent in the way they gather evidence.
/sarc
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Friday 31st July 2026 18:32 GMT MachDiamond
Re: But... but..
"Would any self-respecting crim actually want to enter the USA."
What's the point in ripping people off for millions if you can't travel and buy nice things?
Some of the biggest known drug lords are prisoners in their estates. They probably own the local government/police and perhaps even have a country's national government/cops on a leash, but beyond that have to worry about stepping foot in someplace where that isn't the case.
Cyber criminals are tying to remain anonymous and if they believe they've been successful, maybe they'd think they'd be fine going to a few World Cup matches in the US or meeting with "art dealers" to acquire things that went missing years ago. The big cartel leaders have too much machismo to have people not "know who they are".
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