A US federal judge in Manhattan has overturned a policy introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration that suspended the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries.
Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York ruled that the policy was “patently unlawful” and exceeded the legal authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. She said US immigration law does not give the secretary the power to control how consular officers decide immigrant visa applications.
The ruling followed a lawsuit brought by immigrant rights organisations, including Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, as well as visa applicants and US citizens sponsoring relatives from the affected countries.
The visa suspension, which began in January 2026, affected countries across Africa, Latin America, South Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean and the Balkans. Among the affected countries were Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Bosnia, Albania, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The State Department had defended the suspension by arguing that applicants from the countries involved were at high risk of becoming dependent on government resources in the United States.
The decision represents a setback for Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, which has included travel restrictions and a suspension of diversity visa processing.
Rights groups have welcomed challenges to the administration’s immigration measures, arguing that some of the policies unfairly target minorities and raise concerns about due process and racial profiling.
The US State Department had not commented on the judge’s ruling at the time of publication.
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