FULL LIST: US judge blocks Trump visa ban affecting Nigeria, 74 other countries
A United States judge has blocked a policy by President Donald Trump’s administration that suspended the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, including Nigeria.
Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York ruled on Friday that the policy went beyond the legal powers of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Vargas said the policy was “patently unlawful” and inconsistent with federal immigration law, which limits the secretary of state’s authority over consular officers handling immigrant visa applications.
“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 ruling followed a lawsuit brought by immigrant rights organisations Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, alongside immigrant visa applicants and US citizens sponsoring relatives from the affected countries.
Vargas, who was appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, presided over the case in Manhattan.
The visa suspension came into effect in January and covered nationals of several countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
Countries affected included Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay in Latin America; Bosnia and Albania in the Balkans; and Pakistan and Bangladesh in South Asia.
The US Department of State had defended the policy by arguing that applicants from the affected 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 decision is the latest legal challenge to Trump’s broader immigration policies, which the president has defended as necessary to strengthen security in the United States.
According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, the immigrant visa freeze was among several immigration restrictions introduced by the administration in quick succession. These included a broader travel ban affecting 39 countries that began on January 1 and a suspension of diversity visa issuance in late December.
Immigrant rights groups have also challenged aspects of the administration’s immigration crackdown, arguing that some of the measures raise concerns over due process and free speech, particularly for minority communities concerned about racial profiling.
The countries covered by the policy were:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
