A U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has ordered the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to “immediately lift the adjudicative hold” on plaintiffs stranded in the U.S. after their immigration applications were left unprocessed due to a ban on 39 countries including Nigeria.
“The defendants are ordered to immediately lift the adjudicative hold as to those plaintiffs,” Judge Julia Korbick wrote in a ruling on Thursday.
It’s the latest of about a dozen defeats the Trump administration has suffered in court over its adjudicative hold policy, which targets millions of U.S. legal residents on the basis of their country of birth rather than individual eligibility criteria.
The ruling marks a major victory for James Hacking, the immigration lawyer representing the 22 plaintiffs who also hosts a podcast counselling individuals seeking to relocate to the U.S.
The ruling is also the second within a week in which a judge has disagreed with the Trump administration over its policy to indefinitely pause the processing of immigration applications.
Last Friday, Judge George Russell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a similar ruling mandating the USCIS to process the applications of 83 plaintiffs who argued that they were being targeted because of their country of birth, a factor that was out of their control.
Foreigners living legally in the U.S. have become incapacitated to renew their work authorisations, asylum and green cards after the Department of State expanded travel restrictions on 39 nations to include citizens of those countries already living in the U.S.
The restrictions also affected international students, particularly those in STEM fields, whose applications for Optional Practical Training remained unprocessed.
Despite receiving over $1 billion in application fees, the U.S. immigration services have continued to withhold processing, according to arguments presented in court.
