Trump's 75-country immigrant visa ban struck down by judge

Trump's 75-country immigrant visa ban struck down by judge. By Hanna Park, CNN. Published 3:40 AM EDT Sat August 22, 2026.

The Trump administration's ban on visas for immigrants from 75 countries was struck down by a federal judge on Friday, who ruled it was "contrary to law" and outside the statutory authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The decision from US District Judge Jeannette Vargas, an Obama... [appointee of former President Joe Biden — see below] marks a significant setback to one of the most expansive immigration restrictions of President Donald Trump's second term, blocking a policy that had paused the issuance of immigrant visas to much of the world.

In January, the State Department paused the issuance of immigrant visas from almost 40% of the world's nations – including Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Haiti, Somalia and Russia – in a move that it said would prevent the entry of people who would "take welfare and public benefits."

The department relied on a new interpretation of what's known as the public charge provision, which gives the government broad discretion to deny visas to applicants likely to become primarily dependent on government assistance.

But a cable from Rubio instructed officers to refuse visas regardless of whether an applicant could prove financial self-sufficiency, according to the ruling. Officers were told to refuse even when someone "provides additional evidence that demonstrates he or she overcomes the public charge refusal."

"The outcome is predetermined," Vargas wrote. "The visa will be refused."

The judge found that the directive ran afoul of a 1965 law that prohibits nationality-based discrimination in immigration, as well as the Immigration and Nationality Act's public charge provision.

Most of the 75 countries are non-European, spanning the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia and Southeast Asia, and count several US partners among them, including Jordan, Egypt and Georgia. The State Department drew its list from Council of Economic Advisers data, targeting nations where more than 30 percent of immigrant households received some form of public assistance.

The lawsuit was brought by six US citizens sponsoring relatives from Ghana, Jamaica, Guatemala and Ethiopia, as well as five Colombians seeking visas.

The administration did prevail on one point: Vargas found the policy was not a formal rule subject to public comment requirements under federal administrative law.

The judge also drew a distinction between the issuance of a visa – which she said was squarely under consular officers' authority – and entry into the United States, a distinction at the heart of a 2018 Supreme Court decision upholding the first Trump travel ban.

Denials that rested on other legal grounds stand, even where an officer also cited the ban, leaving the number of reversals expected unclear.

Vargas, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, gave both sides until September 11 to propose how to resolve what remains of the case. The administration can appeal the ruling.