It’s unclear how many visa holders in Maryland and other states across the nation had their visas revoked under Trump’s executive order that banned people from seven countries from entering the U.S. According to a State Department spokesman, people aren’t illegal if they were already in the United States when their visas were revoked by this ban.
The executive order bans all refugees from Syria indefinitely and people from Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Iran and Somalia for three months and stops admissions of new refugees for 120 days. A Seattle federal judge stayed the president’s order. The state attorney general from New York who is suing the federal government called Trump’s order ‘unlawful and unconstitutional.” The White House is appealing the stay issued by the Seattle judge. The White House issued a statement saying that if the president is protecting the homeland, then he has a constitutional right to deny entry to any alien or class of aliens if he believes is in the best interests of the U.S.
After U.S. Customs and Border Protection gave Qatar Airways the go-ahead, people from the previously banned countries with valid green cards or visas were allowed to travel to the U.S. until further notice. Two men from Yemen, both legal permanent residents, have filed a lawsuit alleging that they were held at Dulles International Airport and coerced into surrendering their immigrant visas. They were then sent back to Ethiopia.
If Trump’s executive order has negatively affected someone with a student, work or tourist visa, then an experienced U.S. immigration law attorney may be able to help. A lawyer could file the papers necessary to begin court proceedings and gather and submit documents to defend his or her client’s right to be in the U.S. An attorney may even be able to prevent someone from being deported or help an individual regain entry to the U.S.