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More Than 100,000 Visas Revoked in Wake of Trump Travel Ban
"The number 100,000 sucked the air out of my lungs," says lawyer working on lawsuit challenging executive order
Feb 03, 2017
Belying the government's claim that only 109 legal immigrants were "inconvenienced" by President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, news outlets reported Friday that more than 100,000 visas have been revoked in the wake of the recent travel ban.
According to the Washington Post, which reported the figure citing a government attorney at a federal court hearing in Virginia:
The number came out during a hearing in a lawsuit filed by attorneys for two Yemeni brothers who arrived at Dulles International Airport last Saturday. They were coerced into giving up their legal resident visas, they argue, and quickly put on a return flight to Ethiopia.
"The number 100,000 sucked the air out of my lungs," said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center, who represents the brothers.
Indeed, Daily Beast reporter Betsy Woodruff said, "there was an audible gasp in the...courtroom" when attorney Erez Reuveni, from the Department of Justice's Office of Immigration Litigation, announced the number.
A government official told NBC News that "fewer than 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the executive order."
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Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
Belying the government's claim that only 109 legal immigrants were "inconvenienced" by President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, news outlets reported Friday that more than 100,000 visas have been revoked in the wake of the recent travel ban.
According to the Washington Post, which reported the figure citing a government attorney at a federal court hearing in Virginia:
The number came out during a hearing in a lawsuit filed by attorneys for two Yemeni brothers who arrived at Dulles International Airport last Saturday. They were coerced into giving up their legal resident visas, they argue, and quickly put on a return flight to Ethiopia.
"The number 100,000 sucked the air out of my lungs," said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center, who represents the brothers.
Indeed, Daily Beast reporter Betsy Woodruff said, "there was an audible gasp in the...courtroom" when attorney Erez Reuveni, from the Department of Justice's Office of Immigration Litigation, announced the number.
A government official told NBC News that "fewer than 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the executive order."
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
Belying the government's claim that only 109 legal immigrants were "inconvenienced" by President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, news outlets reported Friday that more than 100,000 visas have been revoked in the wake of the recent travel ban.
According to the Washington Post, which reported the figure citing a government attorney at a federal court hearing in Virginia:
The number came out during a hearing in a lawsuit filed by attorneys for two Yemeni brothers who arrived at Dulles International Airport last Saturday. They were coerced into giving up their legal resident visas, they argue, and quickly put on a return flight to Ethiopia.
"The number 100,000 sucked the air out of my lungs," said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center, who represents the brothers.
Indeed, Daily Beast reporter Betsy Woodruff said, "there was an audible gasp in the...courtroom" when attorney Erez Reuveni, from the Department of Justice's Office of Immigration Litigation, announced the number.
A government official told NBC News that "fewer than 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the executive order."
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