A US judge on Friday struck down a Trump administration policy suspending the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, ruling that the policy exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statutory authority.
US District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan said the policy, announced by the State Department in January, was “patently unlawful” and ran afoul of federal immigration law, which explicitly stripped the secretary of state of authority over consular officers’ processing of immigrant visas.
“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, Reuters reported Saturday.
US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP
The State Department’s suspension, which also took effect in January, affected applicants from Latin American countries including Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay; Balkan nations such as Bosnia and Albania; South Asian countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh; and many nations across Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
