Federal judge strikes down Trump administration's immigration curbs targeting 39 countries

A US federal judge on Friday invalidated a series of immigration restrictions introduced by President Donald Trump's administration following the fatal shooting of National Guard personnel by an Afghan immigrant last year. District Judge John McConnell ruled that measures affecting the processing of asylum requests, work authorisations, green card applications and citizenship petitions from nationals of 39 countries spanning Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East violated the law.

The restrictions were put in place after an Afghan man who had migrated to the United States following the Taliban's return to power in Kabul shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington on November 26, 2025. One of the soldiers was killed in the attack.

In a strongly worded 135-page ruling, McConnell said the policies adopted by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had left large numbers of immigrants trapped in prolonged uncertainty.

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 the ruling.

He further stated that "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 also criticised the government's justification for the restrictions, saying USCIS relied on "pretextual concerns of 'national security' that mask anti-immigrant sentiments."

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"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.

Trump administration expected to appeal

Responding on X, James Percival, general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, suggested that the judgment reflected ideological 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. Following the National Guard shooting, he also said he intended 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.