Judge: Virginia can join challenge to Trump's travel ban

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A judge is allowing Virginia to join a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's travel ban.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Friday greatly expands the scope of the lawsuit, which was initially focused only on legal permanent residents, commonly called green-card holders.

A government lawyer told the judge that more than 100,000 people have had visas revoked since the ban went into effect. After the hearing, the State Department said the figure is less than 60,000, and that the 100,000 figure includes diplomatic visas exempted from the travel ban, and expired visas.

Brinkema says she had never seen the public outpouring that she has seen in this case. She says: "This order touched something in the United States that I've never seen before. People are quite upset."