US judge strikes down Trump immigration curbs on 39 countries as unlawful

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - A US federal court rules that Trump’s immigration restrictions are ‘anti-immigrant sentiments’ in disguise. — Unsplash pic

WASHINGTON, June 6 — A US federal judge on Friday threw out a series of restrictions placed by President Donald Trump’s administration on legal immigration following last year’s shooting of members of the National Guard by an Afghan immigrant.

District Judge John McConnell said the restrictions on processing of asylum, work permit, green card and citizen applications from nationals of 39 African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries were unlawful.

The curbs were imposed after the November 26, 2025 shooting in Washington of two National Guard soldiers by an Afghan man who immigrated to the United States following the Taliban takeover in Kabul. One of the National Guard members was killed in the attack.

The restrictive policies enacted by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) “threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo,” McConnell wrote in a blistering 135-page ruling.

“USCIS’s hold on adjudications cannot be attributed to anything that these individuals did wrong; rather, it arises solely by the happenstance of their birth,” the judge said.

“Over six months later, many of those individuals remain without work, without legal status, and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures,” McConnell said.

USCIS, in imposing the restrictions, was using “pretextual concerns of ‘national security’ that mask anti-immigrant sentiments,” he said.

“The Court is reminded of a line often repeated in discussions around immigration policy: If people wish to immigrate to the United States, they ought to ‘follow the law’ and ‘do things the right way,’” the judge said.

“This case serves as a perfect example of immigrants doing just that.”

‘Arbitrary and capricious’ 

McConnell, an appointee of Democratic president Barack Obama, said it was not his role to rule on “the wisdom of the government’s policy choices” but to determine whether they “comport with the law.”

“The court concludes that they do not,” he wrote. “USCIS’s actions are contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious.”

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of advocacy group Democracy Forward, welcomed the ruling, saying it “reaffirms a basic principle: the federal government cannot shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on where they come from.”

“These unlawful policies caused enormous harm to families, workers, asylum seekers, and communities across the country who were left in limbo, unable to work, access protections, or move forward with their lives,” Perryman said in a statement.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling.

James Percival, general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security said in an X post that the ruling suggests left-wing bias.

“It is sabotage dressed in legal clothing. It goes like this: (1) the admin is racist, (2) therefore a policy I don’t like is motivated by race, (3) therefore it is invalid,” Percival wrote.

Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants and, after the National Guard shooting, he said he planned to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.”

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was charged with opening fire on the guardsmen just a few blocks from the White House, had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He entered the United States as part of a resettlement program following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. — AFP