Judge Overturns US Immigration Freeze on Banned Countries

By Staff, Agencies

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully halted immigration application processing for people from dozens of countries under US travel restrictions, delivering a major setback to the White House’s immigration policy, The Guardian reported.

In a decision issued Friday, Chief US District Judge John McConnell found that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services [USCIS] improperly halted action on applications for asylum, work authorization, permanent residency and citizenship submitted by people from 39 countries covered by President Donald Trump's travel ban policies.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit by advocacy groups challenged USCIS policies introduced after a Washington, DC attack, which led to tighter immigration rules and expanded travel restrictions on dozens of countries.

According to the lawsuit, USCIS not only imposed travel limits but also froze immigration applications for people from targeted countries, delaying green cards, citizenship, work permits, and asylum-related cases for months.

In his ruling, Judge McConnell said the policy left immigrants in prolonged legal limbo through no fault of their own, with USCIS delaying applications for months despite legal compliance, and accused the agency of violating both immigration and administrative law.

Furthermore, the judge ruled that USCIS exceeded its legal authority by imposing broad application freezes based on nationality, violating immigration and administrative law, while the Department of Homeland Security has not yet commented.

Finally, immigrant rights groups welcomed the ruling, saying it upheld federal law and condemned the administration’s actions, while the court ordered USCIS to resume processing frozen applications despite likely appeals; the decision comes amid ongoing political battles over US immigration policy.