A US judge blocked a policy of the president donald trump‘s administration that suspended the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, including Nigeria.
Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York ruled Friday that the policy went beyond Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s legal powers.
Vargas said the policy was “clearly illegal” and inconsistent with federal immigration law, which limits the secretary of state’s authority over consular officials who handle immigrant visa applications.
“The Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based on the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct repeal of this legal scheme,” he wrote.
The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by immigrant rights organizations Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, along with immigrant visa applicants and U.S. citizens sponsoring family members from the affected countries.
Vargas, who was appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, presided over the case in Manhattan.
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The visa suspension came into effect in January and covered citizens of several countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
Affected countries included Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay in Latin America; Bosnia and Albania in the Balkans; and Pakistan and Bangladesh in South Asia.
The US State Department had defended the policy, arguing that applicants from affected countries were “at high risk of becoming a public charge and drawing on resources from local, state, and federal governments in the United States.”
The decision is the latest legal challenge to Trump’s broader immigration policies, which the president has defended as necessary to strengthen security in the United States.
According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, the freeze on immigrant visas was one of several immigration restrictions introduced by the administration in quick succession. These included a broader travel ban affecting 39 countries that began on January 1 and a suspension of the issuance of diversity visas in late December.
Immigrant rights groups have also questioned aspects of the administration’s immigration crackdown, arguing that some of the measures raise concerns about due process and free speech, particularly for minority communities concerned about racial discrimination.
The countries covered by the policy were:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
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