A United States federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully blocked people from 39 countries from receiving decisions on their applications for asylum, work permits, green cards, and citizenship. Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell, sitting in Providence, Rhode Island, struck down a set of policies adopted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which he said left people from dozens of African, Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries in "indeterminate legal limbo."
Ruling Details and Background
The ruling was delivered on Friday, June 5, 2026, according to Reuters. Judge McConnell, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, found that USCIS had adopted the policies without proper statutory and regulatory authority and on the basis of "anti-immigrant sentiments that it is forbidden from letting influence its decision-making."
In his written opinion, Judge McConnell stated: "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." The judge also wrote: "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 added that the agency had violated the very immigration laws that Congress charged it with administering, as well as the administrative laws governing its own actions.
Origin of the Policies
The processing freeze was introduced as part of a broader immigration crackdown following the November 2025 shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. Prosecutors say the attack was carried out by an Afghan immigrant, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who has pleaded not guilty. After the incident, President Donald Trump pledged on social media to "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover."
His administration subsequently expanded travel bans to cover 39 nations. Countries under full bans include Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, Somalia, Venezuela, and Syria, with the administration citing vetting and security concerns as justification. USCIS then suspended the processing of immigration benefit applications from people originating in all 39 affected countries.
Legal Challenge and Response
The ruling marked a significant win for a coalition of immigrant service organisations and labour unions that filed a legal challenge in March 2026. Skye Perryman, head of the legal group Democracy Forward, which represented the plaintiffs, said: "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."
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the ruling. In a related development, a United States federal court had overturned a policy introduced by President Donald Trump that imposed a $100,000 application fee on H-1B visa petitions, in a significant boost to foreign professionals seeking employment opportunities in America, including many Nigerians. That ruling was handed down on Monday, June 8, by US District Judge Leo Sorokin, who found that the former president lacked the legal authority to introduce such a requirement without approval from Congress.
