A US federal judge rules that Trump administration policies unlawfully prevent people from 39 so-called travel-ban countries from receiving decisions on key US immigration applications. The ruling is issued by Chief US District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, who finds the policies adopted by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are unlawful. The judge says the restrictions leave affected applicants in “indeterminate legal limbo” by barring or delaying determinations tied to asylum, work permits, green cards, and citizenship applications.
Multiple outlets report that the case concerns applicants from countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The decision strikes down the set of USCIS policies that, according to the court, target people from those 39 countries and ignore required legal processes. The ruling is reported to occur alongside developments in the US Senate related to legislation intended to fund or address parts of the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
No outlets in the provided reports describe the administration’s response in detail, but all describe the judge’s order as restoring access to legally required immigration processing for the impacted group.
