Judge strikes down Trump bar on asylum, visa processing for 39 countries

Key points

• Judge says restrictions put lives of immigrants in ‘indeterminate legal limbo’, motivated by ‘anti-immigrant sentiment’.
• A federal judge has struck sweeping restrictions imposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump on immigration processing for 39 countries.
• The ruling on Friday by District Judge John McConnell condemned the restrictions imposed in November 2025, following the Washington, DC shooting of two Guard members.
• McConnell said the policy effectively barred citizens from 39 countries from receiving final decisions on asylum cases, green cards, work approval and citizenship applications.
• The change “threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo”, he wrote in the ruling.