US Court Blocks Trump’s Anti-Immigration Push... Visa Halt for 75 Countries Invalid

A U.S. federal court has ruled that the Trump Administration's decision to halt the issuance of immigrant visas to citizens of 75 countries was invalid. The court also found that cases where visas had already been denied under this policy would likewise be void.

Passengers arriving at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC in the United States are having their bags inspected at the immigration checkpoint. Photo by Yonhap News

According to The New York Times, the Manhattan Federal District Court ruled on August 21 (local time) that the U.S. State Department’s immigrant visa restriction policy violated existing law.

The court determined that the administration’s argument—that immigrants from the affected countries could pose a burden to the U.S. economy—was not a sufficient basis to justify restricting visa issuance, and therefore did not accept the government’s reasoning.

The court further held that categorically blocking immigrant visa issuance based solely on nationality exceeded the statutory authority granted to the Secretary of State. Additionally, the system of restricting visas without individually assessing factors such as applicants’ economic self-sufficiency was judged to be inconsistent with laws that require case-by-case review.

The court declared that all prior decisions to deny visas under this policy were null and void. As a result, there is now a possibility that previous applications will need to be reconsidered.

Earlier, in January, the Trump Administration suspended the issuance of immigrant visas to 75 countries, arguing that applicants might use U.S. welfare benefits. Countries affected included Somalia, Haiti, Iran, Russia, Brazil, and Colombia, as well as U.S. allies like Jordan and Egypt.

Civil organizations responded by filing lawsuits to overturn the measure, arguing that it upended a decades-old U.S. immigration framework. After the verdict, a plaintiff’s representative called it “an important victory for hundreds of thousands of families worldwide thrown into turmoil by the administration’s unlawful and discriminatory visa bans.”

As of now, neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor the White House has issued an official statement on the ruling.

Meanwhile, the Trump Administration is also expanding its policy of deporting undocumented immigrants to third countries. According to The New York Times, the U.S. government agreed to pay $5 million (approximately 6.5 billion won) to Liberia in West Africa, in exchange for accepting up to 1,200 deportees over the next year.

The first group of immigrants arrived in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, on August 20. According to human rights groups Human Rights First and Refugees International, the Trump Administration has established so-called "third-country deportation agreements" with more than 35 countries, including the Dominican Republic, Eswatini, Cameroon, South Sudan, and Equatorial Guinea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.