During a federal court hearing in Virginia on Friday, a government attorney revealed that more than 100,000 visas have been revoked as part of the executive order signed by President Trump last Friday that restricted migration from seven Muslim-majority countries.
“The number came out during a hearing in a lawsuit filed by attorneys for two Yemeni brothers who arrived at Dulles International Airport on Saturday and were quickly put on a return flight to Ethiopia in response to the president’s executive order,” the Washington Post reports.
According to Daily Beast reporter Betsy Woodruff, there was an “audible gasp” in the Virginia courtroom when the broader scope of Trump’s order was revealed.
There was an audible gasp in the EDVA courtroom when govt lawyer Erez Reuveni said 100k+ visas were revoked by Trump EO
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) February 3, 2017
Those 100k+ visas weren't just deemed unusable for 90 days; Per Trump lawyer, they no longer exist
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) February 3, 2017
The State Department later said that fewer than 60,000 visas were canceled because of Trump’s ban. But even if the lower number is accurate, it still stands in stark contrast to what the Trump administration has been saying about the number of people affected by the Muslim ban.
In a string of tweets posted Monday, Trump downplayed the ban’s impact, saying it only resulted in 109 people being detained.
Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage,…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017
During an interview that same morning on MSNBC, Press Secretary Sean Spicer echoed his boss, characterizing the chaos that took place at airports throughout the country over the weekend as just an “inconvenience.”
“Three hundred and twenty-five thousand people flew into this country from airports and 109 people were affected and slowed down in their travel. I understand that is an inconvenience but at the end of the day that is a small price to pay as opposed to somebody losing their life because a terrorist attack was admitted,” Spicer said.
Spicer demurred when asked to provide more details about the visa revocations during his Friday press conference.
On Tuesday, the State Department revealed that its new policy in accordance with Trump’s executive order is to “provisionally revoke all valid nonimmigrant and immigrant visas of nationals of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen” — the seven Muslim-majority countries singled out in Trump’s travel ban.
There are only 38 countries that are part of a Visa Waiver Program allowing their citizens to travel to the U.S. without a visa. None of them are Muslim-majority.