A federal court on Friday struck down a Trump-era immigration policy that, after the shooting of two National Guard troopers during Thanksgiving, made it harder for immigrants from 39 countries to stay in the United States. The ruling comes from U.S. District Chief Judge John McConnell Jr., who dismissed the policy as “arbitrary and capricious.”

The policy, implemented in the Biden transition period, categorically barred immigrants from many African, Asian, Latin‑American and Middle‑Eastern nations from waiting for final decisions on asylum, work permits, green cards and citizenship. The ruling therefore removes a legal dead‑end that had left thousands of lawful residents in “indeterminate legal limbo.”

“The policy threw the lives of countless immigrants into indeterminate legal limbo,” Judge McConnell wrote. His decision also criticized the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for claiming authority it lacked, making decisions without reasoned explanations, ignoring reliance interests and using “pretextual” national‑security concerns to justify a policy he deemed discriminatory.

The president’s administration had argued that Congress grants the executive branch broad authority over immigration, including discretionary benefits. The court rejected that argument, holding instead that any such powers must be applied within the statutory framework and cannot be used to arbitrarily bar benefits on the basis of national origin.

“This ruling reaffirms a basic principle: the federal government cannot shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on where they come from,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which represented the plaintiffs. Perryman added that the policy had caused “enormous harm to families, workers, asylum seekers and communities across the country.”

Immigration groups lauded the decision. Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, called it a powerful precedent that prevents the executive from ignoring Congressional law or baring benefits arbitrarily. Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran leading the Afghan resettlement coalition #AfghanEvac, praised the ruling as a victory for rule of law and for “thousands of Afghan allies and other immigrants” who had followed every required step.

The administration’s policy was part of an effort to tighten U.S. entry standards on travel and immigration after the April shooting incident. The court’s ruling does not affect asylum grants to people who are already in the United States or to immigration judges, but it clears the path for casework that had been stalled.

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