US judge strikes down Trump immigrant visa ban affecting 75 countries

US judge strikes down Trump immigrant visa ban affecting 75 countries. Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters. Published On 22 Aug 2026.

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled against the State Department's suspension of immigrant visas.

Judge Jeannette Vargas of Manhattan said in her ruling on Friday in the Southern District of New York that the policy exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statutory authority and was "patently unlawful," conflicting with federal immigration law, which explicitly stripped the secretary of state of authority over consular officers' adjudication 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 policy suspending immigrant visas had been in effect since January, affecting applicants from 75 countries: Latin American countries including Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay; Balkan nations such as Bosnia and Albania; South Asian countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh; and many nations in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

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 suit was filed by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together.

The freeze followed a broader travel ban covering 39 countries that took effect on January 1, as well as a pause on diversity visas in late December.

The State Department has not yet commented on the ruling.