More than 100,000 visas were revoked after the White House banned travel from seven Muslim majority countries last week, an attorney for the government told a federal court on Friday.

The Department of Justice attorney revealed this number during a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, for a lawsuit involving two Yemeni brothers who were sent back to Ethiopia after arriving in Washington DC on Saturday.

Last Friday, Donald Trump signed the executive order, which affects people holding passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and also halts temporarily the entry of refugees into the country.

The White House contends the moves are necessary for national security. Democratic attorneys generals in several states have called them unconstitutional.