Trump’s Muslim Ban Has Revoked Over 60,000 Visas

Travelers from the seven countries implicated had their visas voided immediately by Trump’s order.

Photographer Nolwen Cifuentes
February 03, 2017
Trump’s Muslim Ban Has Revoked Over 60,000 Visas

A report from Reuters today provides figures that help to quantify the impact of Trump's immigration ban on the people it's effecting. According to the State Department, about 60,000 travel visas have been revoked as a direct result of the January 27 order.

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Trump's executive order imposed an immediate 90-day suspension on all passport holders from the seven countries implicated: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Visas held by travelers from those countries were immediately voided, although a State Department official clarified that those visas "could be restored later without a new application."

Both Trump and Press Secretary Sean Spicer made misleading, clearly false claims earlier this week that only 109 people were stopped for additional screening during the first 24 hours of the ban, a figure the Department of Homeland Security now puts at at least 348 for that period, and over 900 for the ban's first five days.

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That number, naturally, only captures the number of travelers detained so far. The State Department figure confirms that the ban's impact is much, much more substantial than the White House has been willing to acknowledge publicly.

In the meantime, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says it's still processing prior applications for people from those countries currently living in the U.S., and that applications for permanent residency or adjustment of status will continue to go forward.

Demonstrations against Trump's executive order continued across the country this week, including the Yemeni bodega strike yesterday, in which over 1,000 Yemeni-owned stores in New York City shut down to protest the ban.

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Trump’s Muslim Ban Has Revoked Over 60,000 Visas