A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s policy that froze permits and other benefits for applicants from nearly 40 countries subject to travel bans. In a 135-page ruling on June 5, 2026, U.S. District Court Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. issued the decision in response to a March lawsuit led by two Providence-based nonprofits, Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island and Refugee Dream Center. The decision opens the path for hundreds of thousands of pending applications to resume processing.
What changed
On June 5, 2026, a federal judge in Rhode Island struck down four USCIS policies that paused or delayed certain immigration benefit decisions for applicants from 39 travel ban countries. USCIS implemented a set of measures that placed a freeze on processing immigration benefits, resulting in many individuals already residing lawfully in the U.S. being unable to renew work authorization, obtain status, or move forward with applications.
A coalition of nonprofit organizations and labor unions claimed the Trump administration’s actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the U.S. Constitution’s right to due process. The judge declared the policies were unlawful and vacated them.
In a scathing 135-page opinion, Judge McConnell said that the policies had thrown countless immigrants living in the United States into “indeterminate legal limbo,” solely because of their nationality, and that USCIS had justified its actions with “pretextual concerns of ‘national security’ that mask anti-immigrant sentiments.”
Why it matters
For practitioners, this ruling has immediate practical consequences. Dorcas International had hundreds of pending immigration benefits application cases that were put in limbo, with the hold ensuring that no case could reach a final decision and creating a challenging and ever-growing backlog. With the policies now vacated, USCIS adjudicators must resume processing on all pending applications from the affected countries.
The freeze affected multiple benefit categories: work permits, green cards, asylum grants, and citizenship (naturalization) applications. Over six months, many of those individuals had remained without work, without legal status, and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures. This ruling restores forward motion on those cases.
The decision also establishes that USCIS cannot use emergency or national-security rationales to bypass administrative procedure requirements or ignore statutory authority limits. The judge wrote that it was USCIS, not the applicants, that did not follow the law—the federal agency claimed statutory and regulatory authority that it didn’t possess, made decisions without reasoned explanations, and acted without regard for the reliance interests of the applicants.
Way forward
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Review your pending inventory immediately. Pull all cases involving applicants from the 39 affected countries and flag them for expected adjudication movement. Check your case management system for application dates and benefit type to prioritize follow-up.
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Communicate with clients in limbo. Notify clients that the freeze has been legally vacated and adjudication should resume. Reset expectations on timeline and next steps, noting that USCIS must comply with the court order.
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Monitor USCIS guidance. Watch for official USCIS notice on implementation and timeline for resuming adjudication of frozen cases. Agency leadership may still appeal or seek a stay, so verify compliance via the USCIS case tracker and official channels.
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Document client harm for future proceedings. If clients suffered job loss, family separation, or other documented hardship during the freeze, preserve that record. It may be relevant to fee waiver requests, hardship-based waivers, or potential class-action settlements.
Disclaimer
This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Fola is a software company, not a law firm. You should consult a licensed immigration attorney to understand how this ruling affects your specific situation or case. Immigration policy can change without notice. Verify all information against the primary source linked above and check official USCIS guidance before relying on any information in this article.