Judge blocks Trump immigration freeze for travelers from 39 countries

A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to stop blocking immigration decisions for applicants from 39 travel-ban countries, reopening a path to rulings on asylum, work permits, green cards and citizenship for people who had been left waiting for months.

Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell, an Obama appointee, said the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had adopted unlawful policies that targeted people from countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. His 135-page opinion said the agency could not freeze cases based solely on nationality, and that applicants were being trapped in legal limbo through no fault of their own.

For people already inside the United States, the ruling matters in immediate, practical ways. Pending asylum applications can move again. Requests for work authorization, permanent residency and naturalization can now receive decisions instead of sitting on hold. Immigration officers can no longer treat all applicants from the covered countries as if their cases were off-limits, even when those applicants had already filed paperwork, paid fees, submitted biometrics and attended interviews.

The case centered on two USCIS memoranda. On December 2, 2025, the agency issued PM-602-0192, putting all pending asylum applications on hold and freezing benefit requests for people from the 19 countries listed in Presidential Proclamation 10949. On January 1, 2026, USCIS issued PM-602-0194, extending the hold to benefit applications for people covered by Presidential Proclamation 10998, which widened the restrictions to 39 countries. The earlier memo also ordered a re-review of approved benefits for people from the listed countries who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021.

The lawsuit was filed on March 5 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island by Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, Refugee Dream Center, the Service Employees International Union, the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, African Communities Together, the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans and American Gateways. Their lawyers came from Democracy Forward, the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, RAICES, Muslim Advocates and the South Asian American Justice Collaborative.

The ruling does not erase the travel bans themselves. The State Department still says visa issuance is fully or partially suspended for nationals of the 39 countries, plus Palestinian Authority travel-document holders. That means people outside the United States remain blocked at the consular stage, even as applicants already in the country regain access to USCIS decisions. The administration is expected to seek a stay or appeal, keeping the broader fight over Trump-era immigration restrictions on a fast-moving legal track.