A federal judge, appointed by former President Barack Obama, has blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from halting legal immigration and asylum applications from nearly 40 countries deemed “high-risk” by officials.
On Friday, Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island declared the Trump administration’s policies that ordered a halt on legal immigration from 39 high-risk countries and the Palestinian Authority.
“Each of the Challenged Policies — the Global Asylum Hold Policy, the Benefits Hold Policy, the Comprehensive Re-Review Policy, and the Country-Specific Factors Policy — are declared unlawful and are hereby VACATED and SET ASIDE,” McConnell wrote in his ruling:
Plaintiffs’ request for a permanent injunction is DENIED. The Government’s related Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ constitutional claims is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.
The Trump policy had sought to protect American citizens from potential terrorism risks arriving from foreign countries after Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, brought to the U.S. as part of the Biden administration’s withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces from Afghanistan, killed National Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom and seriously injured National Guardsman Andrew Wolfe in November of last year.
The countries impacted by the policy were:
- Afghanistan
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Benin
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Chad
- Republic of Congo
- Cote d ‘Ivoire
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Haiti
- Iran
- Laos
- Libya
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Myanmar
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Palestinian Authority
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Syria
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tonga
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
The case is Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island et al v. USCIS, No. 1:26-cv-00132 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com.
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