U.S. Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump Immigration Curbs

(MENAFN) A federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday delivered a sweeping blow to the Trump administration's immigration agenda, blocking a series of policies that had barred hundreds of thousands of migrants from accessing asylum protections, green cards, and other legal immigration benefits.

In a 135-page ruling, Chief Judge John McConnell of the US District Court in Rhode Island determined that the sweeping restrictions on legal immigration benefits were "contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious."

Among the policies invalidated was a measure that suspended immigration applications from nationals of 39 countries listed under Trump's travel ban. The administration had justified the suspension on national security grounds following the charging of an Afghan asylum recipient in connection with the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC.

The restrictions, rolled out late last year, had largely barred US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) from processing green cards, work permits, citizenship applications, and other benefits for nationals of the targeted countries — the majority of which are located across Africa and Asia. All USCIS asylum cases were initially frozen regardless of an applicant's nationality, though the agency resumed processing most cases in March while maintaining the pause for citizens of the 39 travel-ban countries.

McConnell emphasized in his ruling that the affected individuals had " filed the appropriate paperwork, paid the required filing fees, submitted to the requested biometrics collections, and attended the necessary in-person interviews."

The judge was unsparing in his assessment of the administration's legal justifications.

"In enacting its latest immigration policies, USCIS: claims statutory and regulatory authority that it does not possess; makes decisions without the reasoned explanations that it must provide; acts without regard for the reliance interests of applicants that it must consider; and justifies its actions with pretextual concerns of 'national security' that mask anti-immigrant sentiments that it is forbidden from letting influence its decision-making," McConnell said.

The ruling represents one of the most significant judicial rebukes of the administration's legal immigration restrictions to date, with implications for applicants across dozens of countries awaiting resolution of their cases.

MENAFN06062026000045017169ID1111219507