Federal judge strikes down Trump policies that froze immigration benefits for applicants from 39 countries

The ruling

Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. in Providence, Rhode Island, invalidated a suite of policies adopted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services starting in November 2025. The measures placed a hold on processing immigration benefit applications from people in 39 African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries subject to Trump's full or partial travel bans. McConnell, an Obama appointee, wrote that the policies "threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo."

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 found that USCIS acted without statutory or regulatory authority, made decisions without reasoned explanations, and justified its actions with "pretextual 'national security' concerns that mask anti-immigrant sentiments." He said the agency violated the immigration laws Congress charged it with administering.

Trigger event

Several articles trace the policies to a shooting near the White House in November 2025. An Afghan national who had cooperated with Americans during the war in Afghanistan shot two National Guard members; a female guardsman died from her injuries. Shortly afterward, USCIS announced a comprehensive review of "all foreigners from all problematic countries" and halted final decisions on green cards, work permits, naturalizations and all asylum decisions regardless of origin country.

Scope of the freeze

The policies affected immigrants from 39 countries. Trump first imposed travel restrictions on 19 countries in June 2025, with full bans on Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, Republic of Congo, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Eritrea, and partial restrictions on Burundi, Venezuela, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo and Turkmenistan. In mid-December 2025 the White House expanded the list to 20 additional countries and territories, with full bans taking effect 1 January 2026 for Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Syria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and holders of travel documents issued by the Palestinian National Authority. Partial restrictions applied to Angola and Antigua.

Reactions

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which represented the plaintiffs, called the ruling a reaffirmation of a basic principle.

The federal government cannot shut down legal immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on their place of origin. These illegal policies caused enormous harm to families, workers, asylum seekers and communities across the country, who were left in limbo, unable to work, access protections or move forward with their lives.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ruling does not affect immigration judges who grant asylum to those detained at the border, nor the policies that triggered the lawsuit in those contexts.

What the ruling means

McConnell's decision is a victory for the coalition of immigrant service organizations and labor unions that filed the lawsuit in March. The immigrants at issue had adhered to legal processes enacted by Congress and adopted by USCIS through regulation, yet were "stuck waiting, for months on end, for benefit requests that USCIS refuses to adjudicate," the judge wrote. The ruling forces USCIS to resume processing applications from the affected countries.