The State Department said Friday fewer than 60,000 visas were revoked in the week since President Trump suspended travel arrivals for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

The figure contradicted a Justice Department lawyer, who said in U.S. District Court on Friday that 100,000 visas were revoked, according to news reports from CNN and The Washington Post.

The department clarified that the higher figure used by the Justice Department lawyer included diplomatic and other visas that were exempted by the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

The revocation number was revealed Friday in a court case in Virginia involving two Yemeni brothers denied entry when they arrived at Virginia's Dulles International Airport following Trump’s Jan. 27 order. The executive action barred travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Attorneys general from several states, including Massachusetts, Washington, New York, have challenged the order.

Before the clarification, Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni told Judge Leonie Brinkema that 100,000 visas had been rejected, according to CNN and the Post. Visas are temporary permits to enter the U.S. Reuveni said no legal permanent residents, or green-card holders, have been denied entry.

“The number 100,000 sucked the air out of my lungs,” Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center told The Washington Post.

Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, when asked about the case during his daily briefing, said he had no information about it.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who won approval from the court on Friday to participate in the case, said he would argue at a hearing Feb. 10 for an injunction against Trump’s order.

"President Trump's unlawful, unconstitutional, and un-American immigration ban is causing real harm as we speak to Virginia families, students, businesses, and our colleges and universities,” Herring said. "Right now we're working to make sure we get any affected students back into the country, but one-time fixes don't address the underlying problems with this ban.”

Administration officials have said the 90-day pause in arrivals from those countries is necessary to review and perhaps tighten the visa vetting process. But the order sparked protests at airports across the country and opposition from corporate leaders who said it would hurt their businesses.

The State Department last year issued more than 600,000 immigrant visas last year, including visas for 7,727 to Iranians, 3,660 to Iraqis, 383 to Libyans, 1,797 to Somalians, 2,606 to Sudanese, 2,633 to Syrians and 12,998 to Yemenis.

Those visas were the subject of a lawsuit filed Saturday by two Iraqis who were initially denied entry at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. District Court Judge Ann Donnelly temporarily blocked the order in that case, pending a full hearing.

The State Department also granted nearly 11 million non-immigrant visas in 2015, the most recent year available, including visas for 29,007 Iranians, 11,399 Iraqis, 1,613 Libyans, 219 Somalians, 4,354 Sudanese, 9,003 Syrians and 3,787 Yemenis. </s> The U.S. State Department says "roughly 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked" as a result of President Trump's Jan. 27 executive order barring refugees from seven countries.

That number is considerably lower than the number given by a Justice Department attorney, who said today in federal court in Virginia that 100,000 visas were revoked as a result of the order, as Carmel Delshad of member station WAMU reported.

Both numbers are considerably higher than the figure provided by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this week. Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection told reporters on Tuesday that 721 people with visas had not been allowed to board airplanes to the U.S. in the first 72 hours after the order went into effect. An additional 1,135 people with visas were granted waivers to enter the country, he said.

The 100,000 figure came out during a hearing for two lawful permanent residents from Yemen who filed a lawsuit after arriving at Dulles International Airport last Saturday. The two men allege they were detained and coerced into giving up their immigrant visas before being put on a return flight to Ethiopia, Delshad reported.

"U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said that it was clear to her the temporary travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries went into effect too quickly, and not a lot of thought went into it," and issued a seven-day extension of a temporary order barring the deportation of green card holders from Dulles Airport, Delshad reported.

The executive order bans people from traveling to the U.S. from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for three months, suspends new-refugee admissions for 120 days and bars Syrian refugees indefinitely.

State Department spokesman Will Cocks says the executive order doesn't mean a visa-holder already in the U.S. is in the country illegally. "An Iranian student in the U.S. now likely has a visa that could have been revoked. However this has no impact on legal status on those in the U.S. So they are not here illegally," he says.

New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Minnesota and Washington state have all sued the federal government over the order. Eric Schneiderman, the New York state attorney general, described the order signed last Friday as "unconstitutional, unlawful, and fundamentally un-America," reported The Guardian. </s> The U.S. State Department says fewer than 60,000 visas have been revoked as a result of President Trump's Jan. 27 executive order barring refugees from seven countries.

That number is considerably lower than the number given by a Justice Department attorney, who said today in federal court in Virginia that 100,000 visas were revoked as a result of the order, as Carmel Delshad of member station WAMU reported.

Both numbers are considerably higher than the figure provided by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this week. Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection told reporters on Tuesday that 721 people with visas had not been allowed to board airplanes to the U.S. in the first 72 hours after the order went into effect. An additional 1,135 people with visas were granted waivers to enter the country, he said.

The 100,000 figure came out during a hearing for two lawful permanent residents from Yemen who filed a lawsuit after arriving at Dulles International Airport last Saturday. The two men allege they were detained and coerced into giving up their immigrant visas before being put on a return flight to Ethiopia, Delshad reported.

"U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said that it was clear to her the temporary travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries went into effect too quickly, and not a lot of thought went into it," and issued a seven-day extension of a temporary order barring the deportation of green card holders from Dulles Airport, Delshad reported.

The executive order bans people from traveling to the U.S. from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for three months, suspends new-refugee admissions for 120 days and bars Syrian refugees indefinitely.

New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Minnesota and Washington state have all sued the federal government over the order. Eric Schneiderman, the New York state attorney general, described the order signed last Friday as "unconstitutional, unlawful, and fundamentally un-America," reported The Guardian. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department says fewer than 60,000 foreigners from seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas provisionally canceled after President Donald Trump's executive order blocked them from traveling to the U.S.

 

 That figure contradicts a Justice Department lawyer's claim Friday during a hearing in Virginia about the ban. The lawyer in that case said that about 100,000 visas were revoked.

 

 The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted by the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

 

 Trump's order bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> State Department contradicts DOJ, says 60,000 visas revoked by e - WECT TV6-WECT.com:News, weather & sports Wilmington, NC The State Department says fewer than 60,000 foreigners from seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas provisionally canceled after President Donald Trump's executive order blocked them from traveling to the U.S. Fewer than 60,000 foreigners from seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas canceled after President Donald Trump's executive order blocked them from traveling to the U.S., the State Department said Friday Opponents of President Donald Trump's travel ban are taking their fight to the courtroom in legal battles playing out across the U.S. Judges are hearing challenges in Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Virginia,... Opponents of President Donald Trump's travel ban are taking their fight to the courtroom in legal battles playing out across the ... (more)

Start the conversation, or Read more at WECT-TV Wilmington. </s> State Department figure contradicts US media reports quoting government lawyer saying 100,000 visas have been cancelled.

Up to 60,000 travellers to the United States had their visas revoked after President Donald Trump ordered a ban on visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries, according to the State Department.

The admission on Friday came hours after US media reports quoted a government lawyer as saying that about 100,000 travel visas had been cancelled following Trump's move.

A week ago, Trump issued an executive order halting arrivals for at least 90 days for the citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

All refugee arrivals from around the world were also halted, in this case for 120 days.

"Fewer than 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the Executive Order," Will Cocks, spokesman for the department's bureau of consular affairs, said on Friday.

"We recognise that those individuals are temporarily inconvenienced while we conduct our review under the Executive Order," he said.

During the 90-day ban period, the US administration will review visa procedures with a view to introducing what Trump has called "extreme vetting" to weed out suspected "extremists".

US officials have denied the ban amounts to an anti-Muslim measure, despite the order saying "religious minorities" in the mainly-Muslim countries will get priority treatment.

Trump said the move is needed to tighten US security against foreign terror threats, citing the September 11, 2001 attacks, despite the hijackers having no links to the named countries.

In the days after the move, dozens of visitors with valid visas and many with "Green Card" residency permits were detained on arrival at airports and many were sent back.

The White House has said 109 people were held for questioning upon arrival under Trump's executive order. US media have cited homeland security officials as saying many hundreds were denied boarding to the US as the ban was rolled out.

Meanwhile, four US states - Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Washington - were in court on Friday mounting challenges to Trump's ban, with the challengers contending the move was unconstitutional.

The states' arguments focused on the ban's alleged targeting of people based on religion, which would violate the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution prohibiting the government from favouring one religion over another.

The White House has contended the moves were necessary for national security, and Justice Department lawyers on Friday said religion had not been a factor in the selection of the seven countries. </s> More than 100,000 visas have been revoked in the wake of the Trump administration's recent travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, several media outlets reported on Friday.

A government attorney cited the figure at a federal court hearing over a new lawsuit filed by the state of Virginia to join an existing lawsuit, Aziz v. Trump, against the Trump administration's immigration order.

Aziz v. Trump was filed in a federal court on Sunday on behalf of two Yemeni brothers with valid visas — Tareq Aqel Mohammed Aziz and Ammar Aqel Mohammed Aziz — and "others similarly situated." It alleges that the Aziz brothers and as many as 60 other foreign nationals were detained by Customs and Border Protection agents upon arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport last weekend and "forced to sign" I-407 forms "against their will and without their knowledge or consent."

The forms, if signed, mean the signatory has "voluntarily" abandoned his or her status as a "lawful permanent resident of the United States," according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Erez Reuveni, a senior litigation counsel in the Office of Immigration Litigation at the Justice Department, told the court on Friday that 100,000 people had their visas revoked since last Friday. That is when Trump signed an executive order barring citizens of Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days while the federal government revisits its screening processes.

The order also suspended the US's refugee-admitting program for 120 days, indefinitely barred Syrian refugees from resettling in the US, and gave priority status to minorities fleeing religious persecution.

"The Immigration and Nationality Act provides no way to legally effectuate such a ban against this category of immigrants," the Virginia lawsuit says. "Congress has provided that immigrants in petitioners' situation are entitled to enter the United States, and that if the government disagrees, it must institute regular removal proceedings before an immigration judge."

Trump has defended the order by invoking a policy set by President Barack Obama in 2011 — following the discovery that two men suspected of making bombs to target American troops in Iraq were living in Kentucky as refugees — that restricted the entry of Iraqi visa-holders into the US. Politifact rated Trump's comparison "mostly false," however, saying his immigration order was much broader than the previous administration's and did not respond to a specific threat.

The new numbers provided by the government shed more light on how far-reaching Trump's immigration order has been, and they appear to contradict White House press secretary Sean Spicer's claim on Monday that the order "inconvenienced" only 109 people last weekend. When asked on Friday about the 100,000 figure, Spicer replied that he didn't "have all the information about that right now."

"I'll have to get back to you on that," Spicer said.

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Justice Center who is representing the Aziz brothers, told reporters after the hearing that “the number 100,000 sucked the air out of my lungs."

"I think you could almost hear the collective gasp in the courtroom when the government attorney stated that number that over 100,000 visas have been canceled," Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

Plaintiffs accusing the government of unlawfully stripping them of their legal-immigrant status have apparently been offered new visas by the US government in exchange for dropping their lawsuits, The Washington Post reported. But US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who presided over the hearing on Friday, said that offer didn't go "far enough."

Brinkema ultimately ruled that the lawsuit would be allowed to move forward.

"It's quite clear that not all the thought went into it that should have gone into it," Brinkema said, referring to the immigration ban. "There has been chaos ... without any kind of actual hard evidence that there is a need" to revoke visas already granted.

"I have never had so much public outpouring as I've seen in this case," she added. "This order touched something in the United States that I've never seen before. It's amazing." </s> The US Justice Department on Saturday appealed a temporary block of Donald Trump’s travel ban on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries, after the president unleashed a fiery tirade and those with valid visas started arriving on American soil.

It was just the latest in a series of dramatic twists since the Republican billionaire leader issued his immigration order a week ago.

On Friday, a federal judge in Washington state put a temporary stay on the measures pending a wider legal review, prompting government agencies and global airlines to cease enforcing the ban.

Thousands of people from London and Paris to New York and Washington staged fresh protests against Trump, who took office on January 20 — little more than two weeks ago.

The Manhattan property mogul-turned-president, who was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago vacation retreat in Florida, unloaded a barrage of angry tweets throughout the day.

He specifically targeted US District Judge James Robart — an appointee of Republican president George W. Bush — in an extremely rare attack on a federal judge from a sitting president.

“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump tweeted early in the day.

In the evening, he posted: “The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!”

Late Saturday, the Justice Department filed its motion to appeal, though the legal brief detailing its arguments has yet to come.

“We’ll win. For the safety of the country, we’ll win,” Trump told reporters.

The case will now move to a federal appeals court.

Nevertheless, government authorities began complying with the lower court judge’s ruling, reopening the borders to those with proper travel documents.

The State Department told visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen that they are again allowed to travel as long as the documents had not been “physically cancelled.”

The department earlier said up to 60,000 people had their visas revoked as a result of Trump’s order, although a Justice Department attorney put the number at closer to 100,000.

The Department of Homeland Security — which runs border agencies — also said it would cease implementing the order.

The restrictions on all refugees and travelers from the seven countries went into effect a week ago, wreaking havoc at airports across America and leaving travelers trying to reach the United States in limbo.

The political backlash for Trump has been equally severe, with the order fueling numerous mass protests and White House infighting.

In Washington, hundreds of demonstrators marched from the White House to Capitol Hill, chanting “Donald, Donald, can’t you see — we don’t want you in DC!”

About 3,000 people rallied in New York, while an estimated 10,000 people turned out in London, and smaller gatherings took place in Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and Barcelona.

Trump was forced to defend a botched rollout of the plan — which called his government’s competence into question — and fired the acting attorney general for refusing to defend the order in court.

His approval rating has sunk to the lowest level on record for any new president.

His latest rhetorical outburst is only likely to stoke the controversy.

Presidents from Thomas Jefferson to Barack Obama have criticized court rulings, but have rarely, if ever, criticized individual judges.

“I can’t think of anything like it in the past century and a half at least,” constitutional scholar and Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe told AFP.

“It’s not exactly contempt of court, but it certainly is contemptuous,” said Tribe, who taught two sitting Supreme Court justices as well as Obama — whom he later advised.

“It conveys a lack of respect for the independent judiciary that bodes ill for the country’s future as long as Trump occupies the presidency,” Tribe said.

Democrats in Congress were swift in their condemnation of Trump’s remarks, while Republicans notably did not rush to his defense.

“This ‘so-called’ judge was nominated by a ‘so-called’ President & was confirmed by the ‘so-called’ Senate. Read the ‘so-called’ Constitution,” tweeted California Democratic lawmaker Adam Schiff.

The White House has argued that the travel bans are needed in order to prevent terror attacks on the United States.

Experts from the fields of intelligence, counterterrorism and diplomacy say the ban is at best ineffective and at worst fuels hatred of the United States in the Middle East.

But cracking down on Islamist terror has become an organizing principle for Trump supporters and the White House has consistently sought to underscore the risks posed to Americans.

“When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security – big trouble!” Trump tweeted Saturday. </s> U.S. District Judge James Robart temporarily suspended a controversial executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The Seattle Times reports that the ruling made in a federal court on Friday was a major victory for a lawsuit filed by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

“The Constitution prevailed today,” Ferguson said. “No one is above the law — not even the President.”

The lawsuit, filed on January 30, claims that Trump’s executive order banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations violates the U.S. Constitution. The nationwide travel ban was put on hold after the State of Minnesota joined the lawsuit requesting a restraining order.

The Justice Department, representing the Trump administration, failed to convince the Seattle federal judge that Trump’s executive order has not harmed U.S. citizens. The judge granting the suspension of Trump’s executive order on immigration was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration played down reports that chaos in airports after Trump signed the executive order was as bad as it looked. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the damage was minimal.

“Three hundred and twenty-five thousand people flew into this country from airports and 109 people were affected and slowed down in their travel,” Spicer said. “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.”

Multiple reports have emerged contradicting statements made by the Trump administration. It’s unclear exactly how many visas were suspended after Trump signed the controversial executive order, but the number could be as high as 100,000 and as low as 50,000.

The suspension of Trump’s executive order in a federal court was a result of Washington and Minnesota arguing that U.S. citizens have been injured by Trump’s executive order.

Washington and Minnesota aren’t the only two states winning legal battles against the executive order suspending the U.S. refugee program and imposing a travel ban for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen.

New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia filed separate lawsuits this week. Each state’s attorney general has the legal power to file broad lawsuits on behalf of their state’s citizens.

Politico reports that a federal court in Virginia on Friday rejected efforts made by the Justice Department to settle a case on behalf of green card holders detained at Dulles Airport.

“It’s obvious that [Trump’s executive order] put hundreds of thousands of people into a state of great discomfort,” U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema said. “People are really upset.”

Chicago Tribune reports that Ferguson is calling for provisions to Trump’s executive order to be thrown out.

The biggest unanswered question is, what happens next? Friday’s ruling in Seattle is a major defeat for Trump’s executive order moving forward. The case will likely be appealed by the Trump administration. It also likely the case will ultimately make it to the Supreme Court for a final ruling.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the ruling against Trump’s executive order a major victory for all Americans.

“This ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer,” Schumer said.

A visa that was rescinded after Trump’s executive order could potentially be reinstated very soon. The immense legal implications of a federal judge temporarily overturning an executive order signed by the president will no doubt bring clarity to the future of Trump’s travel ban sooner than later. </s> A federal judge in Brooklyn, New York issued an emergency stay on Saturday that temporarily blocks the US government from sending people out of the country after they have landed at a US airport with valid visas.

The American Civil Liberties Union estimates the stay will affect 100 to 200 people detained at US airports or in transit, but government lawyers could not confirm that number.

The ruling by Judge Ann Donnelly of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York came during a hearing called after President Donald Trump issued an executive order blocking people from seven Muslim-majority from entering the United States and putting a temporary halt to refugee admissions.
A lawyer for the Justice Department, in a federal court in Virginia, says 100,000 visas have been revoked this week. A State Department spokesperson says the actual number is fewer than 60,000.