On January 27, Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting entry into the United States to immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations. Since then, over 100,000 visas have been revoked, a Justice Department lawyer said in court on Friday.
The State Department has come forward to deny those claims, saying that “fewer than 60,000 individuals’ visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the Executive Order.”
Attorney Erez Reuveni of the Office of Immigration Litigation, provided the US District Court Judge with the number after she asked about how many people had been affected by the order, CNN reports. However, Reuveni did not know how many people had been deported over the weekend.
As a result, the Judge Leonie Brinkema instructed the Justice Department to provide a list of “all persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States,” since the order has been in affect. By the end of the day on Thursday, February 9th, Brinkema wanted a list of anyone affected, who “had a residence in the Commonwealth of Virginia and had lawful permanent resident status, an immigrant visa (or accompanying family or spousal visa), a valid student visa (or accompany family or spousal visa), or a valid work visa (or accompany family or spousal visa), CNN reports.
Brinkema discussed the order, explaining that she never seen so many people take a stand against something like this before. She went on, hoping the government would come up with a solution to the situation she called, “chaotic,” adding that the President’s power has “limits.”
“Without any kind of fact finding or hard evidence of a need to rescind these (visa) decisions, human beings relied on these decisions. …I hope the government gives serious thought about how to address these issues.”
The judge also extended the temporary restraining order against removing permanent legal residents until next Friday, CNN reports.
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