A U.S. District Court invalidates President Trump’s pause on immigrant and nonimmigrant visa for nationals from 39 Countries. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge John McConnell stated that it is Court’s duty to determine whether the Government’s policies comport with the law. Having undertaken that inquiry, the Court concludes that they do not and therefore must be set aside. With this decision, each of the Challenged Policies—the Global Asylum Hold Policy, the Benefits Hold Policy, the Comprehensive Re-Review Policy, and the Country-Specific Factors Policy—are declared unlawful and are VACATED and SET ASIDE.
A conservative think tank Cato Institute writes, USCIS provided no evidence regarding the national security threats from these countries, which Cato has extensively researched. The judge also noted the internal inconsistency of exempting athletes for the World Cup and Olympics and medical physicians from the hold while claiming national security necessity for everyone else.
This only vacates and sets aside USCIS’ policies but this court decision did not consider and leaves all the restrictions on visa issuances for applicants who are outside the United States e.g. 75 countries under State Department’s visa processing freeze; the presidential proclamation blocking entry for nationals of 39 countries (and State Department’s visa pause); and USCIS’ recent effort to require legal immigrants inside the United States to leave (and potentially be subject to these policies).
Background
USCIS had issued a number of internal policy memoranda which had:
- halted processing of all asylum applications until March 30, 2026, when it restarted them for “non-high-risk countries”;
- suspended adjudications on all benefit applications (applications for green card, work permit and naturalization) for nationals of 39 countries;
- ordered re-review of already-approved immigration benefits for those nationals who entered on or after January 20, 2021; and
- directed adjudicators to treat an applicant’s country of origin as a “significant negative factor” in discretionary decisions.
Note: This is a blog post by Adhikari Law PLLC and should NOT be construed as a legal advice. Changes in immigration policies and procedures are complex and may require a consultation with an experienced immigration lawyer.
You can contact us at (+1) 202 600 7742, or email us at info@adhikarilaw.com if you will have any question on this topic. You can also reach us to learn about our legal services or complete the Form to request an Attorney Consultation.