A federal judge in New York has vacated a Trump administration policy that suspended the processing of visas from 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and Somalia, whose nationals the Trump administration deemed likely to require public assistance in the United States.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas, an appointee of President Biden, described the policy Friday as \u201ccontrary to law and in excess of statutory authority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio exceeded his authority by issuing the policy, which \u201cruns afoul\u201d of the Immigration and Nationality Act by mandating \u201cthe refusal of visas to eligible applicants without any basis in law,\u201d the judge ruled.<\/p>\n
Power lies with consular officers, judge says<\/p>\n
Vargas said the policy also undermines the congressional requirement that puts consular officers at the forefront of any visa decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongress imbued these officers with exclusive authority and discretion to determine if an immigrant is eligible for a visa based upon review of specific and detailed criteria set forth in the statute,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n
The policy was challenged by two nonprofit organizations along with 11 individuals, including six whose family members had been refused visas. The remaining five are outside the country and had filed \u201cemployment-based petitions\u201d to come to the United States.<\/p>\n
\u2018This case is about keeping families together,\u2019 advocate says<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome this ruling because, at its heart, this case is about keeping families together,\u201d said Anna Gallagher, the executive director of CLINIC, a national nonprofit that provides training, resources and support to a network of immigration legal service providers and was one of the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cCatholic social teaching calls us to uphold the dignity of every person and recognize the family as the foundation of society,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cThis decision affirms both those values and the rule of law, allowing families to once again move forward toward reunification.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another plaintiff is African Communities Together, a Harlem-based nonprofit. One of its leaders called the ruling \u201ca tremendous victory for the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis unlawful and racist ban caused immeasurable harm, cruelly keeping families and loved ones apart,\u201d Diana Konate, deputy executive director for policy and advocacy, said in a statement. \u201cToday, we are elated to tell our community members: this ban is no more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump expands anti-immigration agenda<\/p>\n
President Trump has imposed a growing list of immigration and travel bans mostly for people from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The State Department said Saturday that the Trump administration is \u201cprotecting the American people by upholding the highest standards of screening and vetting of visa applicants,\u201d and that it would not comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n
At the time the policy was issued, the State Department said it had instructed consular officers to halt immigrant visa applications from the 75 countries in accordance with a broader order in November that tightened rules around potential immigrants who might become \u201cpublic charges.\u201d <\/p>\n
Relying on Council of Economic Advisors data, the State Department said that more than 30% of households with immigrants from these countries received some form of public assistance.<\/p>\n
A separate notice sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates said that non-immigrant visa applicants also should be \u201cfully vetted and screened\u201d for the possibility that they might seek public benefits in the United States.<\/p>\n
The cable, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press, noted several times that the applicant must prove they won\u2019t apply for public benefits while in the U.S., and that consular officers who suspect the applicant might apply should require them to fill out a form proving their financial bona fides.<\/p>\n
The ruling is the latest example of the courts upending Trump\u2019s immigration agenda. <\/p>\n
In June, a federal judge struck down a Trump administration policy that made it harder for immigrants from dozens of countries to enter and stay in the United States \u2014 affecting elements including asylum, work permits, green cards and citizenship applications. That judge said the policy threw countless immigrants\u2019 lives \u201cinto indeterminate legal limbo,\u201d and accused the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of ignoring the law.<\/p>\n
Casey writes for the Associated Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge in New York has vacated a Trump administration policy that suspended the processing of visas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[121],"tags":[88631,3031,88632,88630,46197,493,2741,3639,186,72,88628,11042,5458,88629,17,3319],"class_list":["post-198347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-marco-rubio","tag-consular-officer","tag-country","tag-eligible-applicant","tag-family-member","tag-immigrant","tag-immigration","tag-judge","tag-law","tag-marco-rubio","tag-national","tag-policy-friday","tag-rule","tag-state-department","tag-trump-policy","tag-united-states","tag-visa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117141630105291297","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}