A federal judge in Manhattan has ruled against the State Department’s suspension of immigrant visas.
Published August 22, 2026
A U.S. judge has invalidated a policy introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration that suspended immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries, saying the policy exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statutory authority.
Manhattan Judge Janet Vargas said in a ruling Friday in the Southern District of New York that the policy is “patently illegal” and violates federal immigration law that explicitly strips the secretary of state’s authority over consular officials adjudicating immigrant visas.
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“This policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based on the applicant’s nationality, represents a direct abolition of this statutory system,” she wrote.
Vargas, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, made the ruling in a lawsuit brought by immigrant rights groups Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, as well as U.S. citizens sponsoring immigrant visa applicants and family members from designated countries.
The suspension, which took effect in January, affected applicants from Latin American countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay. Balkan countries such as Bosnia and Albania. South Asian countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. and many countries in Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean.
The State Department said applicants from these countries “are at high risk of becoming a public burden and relying on U.S. local, state, and federal resources.”
During his term as president, President Donald Trump has pushed for an aggressive crackdown on immigration, claiming that it was aimed at improving domestic security. The freeze was one of several restrictions imposed by the administration in quick succession, following a broad travel ban targeting 39 countries that went into effect on January 1 and a suspension of diversity visas in late December, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Human rights groups have suggested the crackdown violates free speech and due process rights, especially for minorities, who have raised concerns about racial profiling.
The State Department has not yet commented on the ruling.
