A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s suspension of immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries. 

U.S. District Judge Jeanette A. Vargas ruled on Friday that U.S. Department of State guidance violated the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

The Catholic Legal Immigration Network had sued Secretary of State Marco Rubio to challenge the guidance. On Jan. 14, the U.S. Department of State announced that it would suspend immigrant visas to nationals of 75 countries who posed a high risk of using welfare or becoming a public charge.

Congress has provided five factors that consular offices must consider when deciding whether a non-citizen is likely to become a public charge: the non-citizen’s age, health, family status, assets, resources, and finances, and education and skills, Vargas wrote. 

“Accordingly, ‘[n]o single factor, other than the lack of a qualifying affidavit of support, in accordance with INA 213A, if required, will determine whether an individual is a public charge,’ Vargas wrote in the 61-page ruling.

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Vargas wrote that all immigrant visa applications must be handled by a consular officer. 

“Moreover, the INA provides that ‘no person shall receive any preference or priority or be discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the person’s race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence.’”

So the U.S. Department of State can’t suspend admissibility based on their country of origin, Vargas wrote. 

“Congress intended the public charge ground of inadmissibility to apply to those non-citizens who were likely to be unable to support themselves in the future and to rely on the government for subsistence,” Vargas wrote. 

 gov.uscourts.nysd.657161.83.0  by  scott.mcclallen 


The plaintiffs have standing to sue because their families were refused visas, Vargas wrote. 

“These injuries are directly traceable to the Policy directing consular officers to refuse immigrant visa applicants of certain nationalities. Because of their nationalities, the U.S.-citizen Plaintiffs’ family members who were interviewed by consular officers and the intending-immigrant Plaintiffs have been refused visas," Vargas wrote.