Mounting Travel Ban Suits Test Freeze on Immigrant Work Permits

Months after the Trump administration issued a freeze on work permits and other benefits for people from nearly 40 travel ban countries, immigrants are being forced out of jobs, losing apartments, and going without health care.

They’re also increasingly taking US Citizenship and Immigration Services to court over a policy that’s put benefits on hold for applicants from Iran, Nigeria, and other nations deemed “high risk” by White House proclamations—even though they arrived before the ban was issued and, in many cases, have been in the country for years.

Roughly three dozen lawsuits in federal district courts across the country claim USCIS is unlawfully withholding decisions on work permits and violating immigration statute by discriminating against applicants on the basis of national origin. And plaintiffs are slowly collecting preliminary court wins, albeit for limited groups of immigrants.

The benefits freeze was cast as a temporary move while the government conducts a review of relevant policies. But attorneys say there’s no sign the agency is moving to drop the freeze.

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With courts blocked from issuing nationwide injunctions, plaintiffs are joining “mass action” cases or bringing individual suits over delayed benefits.

The basis of those legal challenges is largely the same: They argue the benefits freeze violated the Administrative Procedure Act by imposing unreasonable delays and enacting a policy that was arbitrary and capricious, as well as unlawfully discriminating on the basis of national origin.

Those claims are finding traction in court, most recently in the Northern District of California where Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen this month granted a preliminary injunction to 31 Iranians and one Sudanese national, ordering USCIS to adjudicate their pending work permits.

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Other courts have ordered USCIS to act on claims of individuals or groups of plaintiffs, but van Keulen’s decision was significant because it found Congress had set an expectation that a reasonable processing time was no more than 180 days, said Morrison, who represents the plaintiffs.

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In the wake of the sudden work permit freeze, hundreds of recent graduates from travel ban countries have been unable to work—a problem poised to get worse as more international students complete degrees this spring.

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