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Federal judge rules USCIS freeze on immigration processing for 39 travel-ban countries unlawful

U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the District of Rhode Island ruled on June 5, 2026 that USCIS unlawfully froze asylum claims and immigration-benefit adjudications — work permits, green cards, and citizenship — for nationals of the 39 countries under the administration's travel restrictions. The 135-page ruling found the freeze exceeded the agency's statutory authority, was arbitrary and capricious, and masked anti-immigrant animus behind pretextual national-security claims, and ordered processing resumed.

Part of: Trump Administration Asylum and Immigration Benefit Restrictions

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

In late November 2025, following the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services suspended the processing of asylum claims and froze adjudication of immigration benefits — work permits, green cards, and naturalization — for nationals of the 39 countries subject to the administration's travel restrictions. USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said claims would not be processed "until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible." The freeze halted green-card approvals, led to the widespread cancellation of naturalization ceremonies, and left immigrants on time-limited visas at risk of falling out of lawful status through no action of their own.

On June 5, 2026, Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island vacated the policies in a 135-page ruling in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS, a suit brought by nonprofit organizations represented by Democracy Forward. McConnell found the freeze exceeded the statutory and regulatory authority USCIS possesses, was arbitrary and capricious, and rested on "pretextual concerns of 'national security' that mask anti-immigrant sentiments that it is forbidden from letting influence its decision-making." The policies, he wrote, "threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo" based solely on "the happenstance of their birth."

The court ordered USCIS to resume processing, a decision that reaches all pending cases involving nationals of the 39 countries, not only the plaintiffs'. The ruling means the agency must also reschedule naturalization ceremonies for thousands of immigrants whose citizenship had been put on indefinite hold. The recordable abuse is the executive branch's categorical, nationality-based suspension of statutorily required adjudications — conduct a federal court has now held to be contrary to law on multiple independent grounds.

Why we recorded this

Congress writes the immigration laws, and executive agencies like USCIS are legally required to administer them — including adjudicating asylum claims, work permits, green cards, and citizenship applications. Freezing all such processing for nationals of 39 countries, categorically and without statutory authorization, is a refusal to carry out duties the law imposes on the agency; a federal court found the freeze was not only unauthorized but masked unlawful anti-immigrant animus behind pretextual national-security claims. The people harmed applied through legal channels and were entitled by statute to a decision: they were left in legal limbo — at risk of losing lawful status, jobs, or the right to remain with their families — through no fault of their own. We record ignoring-statutory-requirements when an agency refuses to administer a law Congress enacted, and discriminatory-policy when the refusal is applied categorically on the basis of national origin.

Sources

  1. Judge blocks series of Trump policies halting immigration processing — The Hill primary accessed June 6, 2026
  2. A federal judge strikes down Trump administration immigration policy affecting 39 countries — Associated Press (via Boston.com) primary accessed June 6, 2026
  3. Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS — opinion and order — U.S. District Court, D.R.I. (via CourtListener) primary accessed June 6, 2026
  4. Judge Says Trump Officials Must Restart Asylum and Immigration Processing — The New York Times primary accessed June 6, 2026
  5. Judge: Trump must restart immigration, asylum processing — UPI primary accessed June 6, 2026
  6. US judge rules against Trump policies targeting immigrants from 39 travel-ban countries — The Guardian secondary accessed June 6, 2026
  7. Judge Strikes Down Trump 'Anti-Immigrant' Policies, Orders Restart of Asylum Processing — Common Dreams secondary accessed June 6, 2026

See also