Lead image for US judge reinstates visas for 75 nations banned by Trump.
A US judge on Friday struck down a Trump administration policy suspending the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, saying that the policy exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statutory authority.
U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan said the policy that the State Department announced in January was "patently unlawful" and ran afoul of federal immigration law, which explicitly stripped the Secretary of State of authority over consular officers' processing of immigrant visas.
"The Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme," she wrote.
The State Department's suspension, which also took effect in January, impacted applicants from Latin American countries including Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay; Balkan nations such as Bosnia and Albania; South Asian countries Pakistan and Bangladesh; and those from many nations in the Middle East, and the Caribbean.
The directive also impacted several nations across North, West, East, and Central Africa:
North & East Africa: Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tunisia.
West & Central Africa: Algeria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), Liberia, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Togo.
The State Department said applicants from those countries were "at a high risk for becoming a public charge and recourse to local, state and federal government resources in the United States." The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.