A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled on Friday that the Trump administration implemented a series of unlawful policies that prevented individuals from 39 countries from receiving decisions on asylum applications, work permits, green cards, and citizenship. Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence struck down 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 nations in "indeterminate legal limbo."
Judge's Ruling and Reasoning
Judge McConnell, appointed by former President Barack Obama, stated that the immigrants had followed legal processes established by Congress and USCIS regulations, yet were "stuck waiting, for months on end, for benefit requests that USCIS refuses to adjudicate." He argued that the agency adopted these policies without statutory and regulatory authority, based on "anti-immigrant sentiments that it is forbidden from letting influence its decision-making." McConnell wrote, "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."
Background of the Lawsuit
The ruling was a victory for a coalition of immigrant service organizations and labor unions that sued in March to challenge the USCIS policies. Skye Perryman, head of the liberal legal group Democracy Forward, which represents 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 Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Context of the Immigration Crackdown
USCIS adopted these policies as part of a ramped-up immigration crackdown following the November shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., allegedly by an Afghan immigrant, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who has pleaded not guilty. In response, President Trump vowed on social media to "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover," and expanded travel bans to cover 39 nations, including Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, Somalia, Venezuela, and Syria. The administration justified the restrictions on vetting and security grounds.
McConnell noted that the policies placed a hold on processing immigration benefit applications from people from those 39 countries, "placing the lives of countless individuals on hold—solely by virtue of their countries of birth." He concluded, "But 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.' Indeed, the agency has violated the very immigration laws that Congress has charged it with administering, as well as the administrative laws that govern the agency's actions."
