US Judge Blocks Trump-Era Immigration Policies Affecting Applicants From 39 Countries

A federal judge has struck down a set of immigration policies adopted by the Trump administration that halted decisions on immigration benefit applications from people originating from 39 countries, ruling that the measures were unlawful.

Chief US District Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island ruled on Friday that the policies implemented by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had prevented applicants from receiving decisions on asylum claims, work permits, green cards and citizenship applications.

According to the ruling, the measures left individuals from dozens of countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East in "indeterminate legal limbo."

McConnell said the affected immigrants had complied with existing legal procedures established by Congress and implemented through USCIS regulations, yet had been "stuck waiting, for months on end, for benefit requests that USCIS refuses to adjudicate."

The judge found that USCIS lacked the statutory and regulatory authority to implement the policies and said the agency had acted based on "anti-immigrant sentiments that it is forbidden from letting influence its decision-making."

"USCIS’s hold on adjudications cannot be attributed to anything that these individuals did wrong; rather, it arises solely by the happenstance of their birth," he wrote.

The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed in March by a coalition of immigrant service organisations and labour unions challenging the USCIS policies.

Reacting to the ruling, Democracy Forward, which represented the plaintiffs, said the decision upheld equal treatment under immigration law.

"This ruling reaffirms a basic principle: the federal government cannot shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on where they come from," said Skye Perryman, the organisation's president.

The policies were introduced as part of a broader immigration enforcement effort launched by the Trump administration following the November shooting of two National Guard members stationed in Washington, D.C. Prosecutors allege the attack was carried out by an Afghan immigrant, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who has pleaded not guilty.

Following the incident, Trump pledged on social media to "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover."

The administration subsequently expanded its travel restrictions, imposing full or partial bans on nationals from 39 countries. Countries subject to full travel bans included Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, Somalia, Venezuela and Syria. The administration said the restrictions were necessary for security and vetting purposes.

McConnell said the USCIS policies effectively suspended the processing of immigration benefit applications from people originating from those countries and "placed the lives of countless individuals on hold—solely by virtue of their countries of birth."

"But the rule of law has to apply to everyone equally and, as evident here, USCIS has neither 'followed the law' nor 'done things the right way,'" he wrote.

"Indeed, the agency has violated the very immigration laws that Congress has charged it with administering, as well as the administrative laws that govern the agency’s actions."

(Reuters reported)