A U.S. federal court has invalidated the suspension of immigrant visas for 75 countries imposed earlier this year by President Donald Trump’s administration, ruling that Secretary of State Marco Rubio exceeded his legal authority in implementing the measure.
[Visa Cancellation: Morena Denounces U.S. Political Pressure on López Beltrán: US Federal Court Overrides Trump’s Visa Suspension for 75 Countries](https://www.telesurenglish.net/us-federal-court-overrides-trumps-visa-suspension-for-75-countries/)
New York Southern District Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled the previous day in a 61-page decision that the ban is “manifestly unlawful” and questioned the administration’s justification that applicants from the designated nations posed a high risk of becoming an “economic burden” on the United States.
The magistrate noted that U.S. officials had been ordered to deny visas even to immigrants who met the requirements and were likely to be self-sufficient, in contravention of a rule requiring individualized assessments of each case.
The countries affected by this directive included several Latin American and Caribbean nations such as Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Uruguay.
The pause in visa issuance, in effect since last January, also covered Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, Somalia, Thailand, and Yemen.
A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s suspension of immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries, ruling the State Department policy violates federal immigration law and exceeds Secretary Marco Rubio’s authority. pic.twitter.com/GPRez33uI6
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) August 22, 2026
Among the plaintiffs in the case are five Colombian professionals who had their visa applications denied, citing the new policy, as well as six Americans who claim the ban harmed their relatives in Ghana, Jamaica, Guatemala, and Ethiopia, according to The New York Times.
The judge’s ruling also overturns visa denials based solely on the measure, which could result in the review of thousands of already processed applications.
“This decision represents a significant victory for the hundreds of thousands of families across the country and the world whose lives were thrown into chaos by this administration’s illegal and discriminatory visa ban,” said Joanna Cuevas Ingram, senior attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, in a statement.
According to Cuevas Ingram, the court “made it clear that immigration laws cannot be used to justify discrimination.”
The president and CEO of the NGO Democracy Forward, Skye Perryman, insisted that the ruling represents a “resounding rejection of an illegal and discriminatory policy that caused enormous harm to families and communities across the country.”
“The Trump-Vance Administration cannot instrumentalize immigration law to ban entire countries, separate families, and deny constitutionally guaranteed rights without being held accountable,” she insisted.
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