US Judge Rejects Trump Administration’s Halt on Immigration Applications

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that policies that make it harder for ‌people from countries on President Donald Trump’s travel ban list to get green cards and work permits are discriminatory and unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston reached that conclusion, opens new tab as she issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit by around ​200 people from 20 countries including Iran, Haiti, Venezuela and Syria who sued over a halt ​on the processing of their immigration-related applications.

The lawsuit, filed in December, took aim at ⁠policies U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services adopted beginning in November affecting applications by immigrants seeking asylum, green ​cards and work authorization.

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Kobick, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, concluded the plaintiffs were likely to succeed ‌in proving ⁠that policy ran afoul of the Immigration and Nationality Act’s bar against nationality-based discrimination.

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Kobick blocked USCIS from ​enforcing the policies against ⁠22 plaintiffs who had provided declarations detailing how they were harmed by them, and she directed the parties to discuss whether her order should apply to the ​rest of the 200.

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