Trump Profit Freeze for Journey Ban International locations Discovered Illegal (2)

A federal courtroom in Rhode Island put aside a Trump administration coverage freezing work permits, inexperienced playing cards, and different advantages for candidates from roughly 40 nations topic to journey bans, handing a win to immigration advocates and labor unions.

That US Citizenship and Immigration Services coverage has blocked work permits and inexperienced playing cards for folks from nations deemed “high risk” by the federal government together with Iran, Nigeria, and Venezuela—regardless that they have been already current within the US. That’s led many to lose jobs and put their lawful standing in jeopardy as the advantages pause has continued.

The coverage didn’t “simply place a hold on adjudications,” Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr., an Obama appointee to the District of Rhode Island, discovered.

“More fundamentally, the Challenged Policies placed the lives of countless individuals on hold—solely by virtue of their countries of birth. Over six months later, many of those individuals remain without work, without legal status, and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures,” he wrote in an opinion Friday, discovering the coverage must be put aside as a result of it violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

As the Trump administration has pursued a bigger mass deportation program, USCIS insurance policies concentrating on folks from “travel ban” nations exemplified a slew of measures disrupting authorized immigration packages. The Department of Homeland Security has additionally sought to dismantle humanitarian protections, and slowed or restricted approval of employment authorization paperwork for a broad vary of migrants.

The State Department, in the meantime, has blocked inexperienced playing cards for 75 nations, citing considerations of reliance on authorities advantages.

The advantages freeze was framed as a short lived measure whereas DHS overhauls screening procedures after two National Guard members in Washington, DC have been shot final 12 months. But the coverage has remained largely unchanged since two memos have been issued by USCIS Director Joseph Edlow in December and originally of this 12 months.

‘Devastating’ Consequences

Along with the advantages pause, the primary Edlow memo halted processing of all asylum claims. It additionally directed that earlier choices granting advantages to folks from journey ban nations be reviewed once more and added “country-specific factors” like these outlined in White House journey bans as circumstances to think about in profit choices.

Dozens of lawsuits have challenged the USCIS advantages coverage in federal district courts claiming the company can’t withhold choices on the premise of candidates’ nations of origin. Several have already secured preliminary courtroom wins, though aid has been restricted to plaintiffs in particular person instances.

The Trump administration lifted the freeze on asylum claims in March—though just for folks not from journey ban nations. And final month, amid mounting litigation and lobbying stress from medical organizations, USCIS quietly relaxed the advantages freeze for physicians.

In addition to the advantages maintain, McConnell’s nationwide order vacated and put aside the worldwide asylum maintain coverage, the re-review of coverage for beforehand accepted advantages, and the “country-specific factors” coverage.

He rejected nationwide safety justifications supplied by the federal government and located that USCIS hadn’t supplied a reasoned rationalization for linking presidential proclamations denying entry to the US to choices on profit requests for folks already within the US.

McConnell additionally discovered proof—together with derogatory statements about immigrants by administration officers after the National Guard capturing—of pretextual causes behind the insurance policies.

“The Government effectively invites the Court to shut its eyes and ignore the strong evidence of anti-immigrant animus before it,” he wrote. “Doing so would require profound naiveté on the Court’s part.”

McConnell declined a request from plaintiffs to grant a everlasting injunction on the insurance policies, discovering it wasn’t essential.

The ruling reaffirms the precept that the federal government can’t shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate towards folks primarily based on the place they arrive from, stated Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which represented plaintiffs.

“These unlawful 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,” she stated in a press release. “We are pleased that the court recognized the devastating human consequences of these policies. Our communities deserve a fair process governed by law, not political targeting rooted in fear and discrimination.”

The administration’s critics on the left have been “running the same gambit with so called ‘animus’ claims since 2017,” James Percival, common counsel for DHS, stated in a press release.

“It is sabotage dressed in legal clothing,” he stated.

Plaintiffs within the Rhode Island case have been additionally represented by Muslim Advocates, Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, South Asian American Justice Collaborative, and DeLuca, Weizenbaum, Barry & Revens Ltd.

The case is Dorcas Int’l Inst. of Rhode Island v. USCIS, D.R.I., No. 1:26-cv-00132, order issued 6/5/26.