A U.S. federal judge on Friday, June 5, ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump implemented unlawful immigration policies that prevented people from 39 countries from receiving decisions on asylum, work permits, green cards, and citizenship applications.
The ruling was delivered by Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. in Providence, Rhode Island, who found that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had acted beyond its legal authority.
The judge said the policies left affected applicants in prolonged “legal limbo,” noting that individuals who had already complied with all required immigration procedures were still being denied timely decisions on their cases.
According to the court, the policies were adopted without proper statutory backing and were influenced by improper considerations, including what the judge described as anti-immigrant sentiment. He also stressed that immigration authorities must act within the limits set by Congress and cannot allow bias to shape decision-making.
The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups and labor unions, including Democracy Forward, which argued that the policies unlawfully disrupted lawful immigration processes.
In his judgment, McConnell wrote that applicants had followed all legal requirements but were still left waiting indefinitely for decisions, adding that such outcomes were not justified under U.S. immigration law.
The decision is being viewed as a significant setback for the immigration restrictions tied to the administration’s broader post-incident enforcement measures and is expected to impact how pending applications from affected countries are processed going forward.