The federal government said Thursday that 746 people were “detained or processed” during the 27-hour period after a federal judge blocked enforcement of part of President Trump’s travel ban.
The Justice Department on Thursday turned over a list of the names to a group of civil rights attorneys representing plaintiffs suing the Trump administration over the policy.
The lawyers agreed not to make the names public, but a cover letter from the Justice Department obtained by The Hill says “the list includes legal permanent residents.”
The list of names turned over to lawyers also includes travelers with approved refugee applications, valid visa holders and travelers from the seven countries included in the ban who were authorized to enter the U.S.
The Justice Department said the list contains the names “of all individuals who were encountered or undergoing processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection pursuant to the executive order at any time” between when the court order was issued around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, to just before midnight Sunday.
It’s not clear how many people on the list eventually gained entry into the U.S.
A federal judge in Brooklyn ordered the names to be given to lawyers representing Hameed Khalid Darweesh, an Iraqi translator who worked for the U.S. military who was detained at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after Trump’s executive order was handed down on Jan. 27.
Darweesh and another Iraqi man who was also detained are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center and other legal organizations.
After the lawsuit was filed on Jan. 28, the Brooklyn federal court issued a ruling preventing many travelers subject to the ban from being deported.
The entire order was later put on hold nationwide by a separate federal court in Washington state.
The immediate rollout of the executive order sparked confusion and outcry as airports struggled with how to implement Trump’s order, especially for visa and green-card holders.
Trump administration officials repeatedly downplayed the number of people affected by the ban and have insisted the rollout went smoothly, even as they work on a new order that can pass legal muster.
“Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage,” the president tweeted on Jan. 30.
The order placed a 90-day halt on citizens of Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Syria from entering the U.S., as well as a 120-day pause to general refugee admissions and an indefinite halt on admittance of Syrian refugees into the U.S.
The government said last week in a court filing that 44 people arriving from those seven countries were deemed inadmissible on Jan. 27 and 28, The Associated Press reported, and another 97 people were denied entry at land border ports or pre-clearance locations abroad.
The government said at the time that 24 of those people who arrived at U.S. airports and 14 stopped elsewhere were ultimately admitted.