A lawyer for the Trump Administration told a Virginia federal judge that since President Donald Trump signed his executive order on immigration last Friday, 100,000 people have had their visas revoked from seven majority Muslim countries including Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen.
The numbers were revealed during a hearing for a lawsuit held in front of U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkeman in Virginia, after two Yemeni brothers arrived last weekend and were made to return to Ethiopia because of Trump’s executive order.
The State of Virginia has asked to intervene in the lawsuit and wants to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court for allegedly ignoring a temporary restraining order that required Customs and Border Protection officials to let lawyers speak with detainees at Dulles International Airport.
Judge Brinkeman allowed Virginia to join the lawsuit. According to the Associated Press, she seemed to indicate she would consider cases involving anyone “who had a been issued a visa and had it revoked.”
“This order touched something in the U.S. that I’ve never seen before. People are quite upset,” the judge said.