Setback for Trump: a US federal judge invalidated immigration restrictions against 39 countries

Rhode Island District Judge John McConnell stated that the restrictions imposed at asylum applications, work permits y citizenship of nationals from 39 countries were illegal.

“Since then, people from these countries have been categorically prevented from obtaining final decisions regarding, among other things, their applications for asylum, work permits, permanent residence cards or naturalization,” the judge stressed.

“In enacting its most recent immigration policies, USCIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) attributes statutory and regulatory authority that it does not possess; makes decisions without the reasoned explanations that should be provided; acts without considering the trust interests of the applicants that it must take into account; and justifies their actions with pretextual ‘national security’ concerns that cover up anti-immigrant sentiments whose influence on your decision-making you are prohibited from allowing,” McConnell wrote.

“In legal terms, that means that USCIS actions are contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious“added the judge in his ruling.

I just met with the President.

I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.

Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom—not for foreign…

— Special Envoy Kristi Noem (@EnvoyNoem) December 1, 2025

He cited a post by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. In December, Noem claimed in

That recommendation was implemented immediately, and applications for residence cards – the famous ‘green card’– or naturalization were suspended for people from 19 of the poorest countries in the world.

Twelve of those countries were already facing a ban on entry into US territory from June 2025: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan y Yemen.

They were joined by another seven (Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan y Venezuela) subjected from the same date to restrictions on the issuance of visas.

Twenty countries were later added to the list in December 2025.

In its motion to dismiss, which the court denied, the US government had argued that Congress granted the Executive Branch broad authority over immigration policyincluding “the entry of aliens into the United States, as well as discretion within the statutory scheme to confer and also withdraw various discretionary benefits.”

“This case is based on a remarkable premise: that a federal court should stop an agency from issuing the same policy guidance that provides government personnel with the necessary protective barriers to guarantee consistent, non-arbitrary and individualized decision-making in accordance with federal law,” the Government had stated in its brief.

Trump has made the fight against illegal immigration a top priority, alluding to an “invasion” of the country by “criminals from abroad.”

But its mass deportation program has been thwarted or stopped by multiple court decisions.