WASHINGTON: A US federal judge on Friday blocked a series of restrictions placed by President Donald Trump´s administration on legal immigration following last year´s shooting of two members of the National Guard by an Afghan immigrant.
District Judge John McConnell said the restrictions on asylum, work permit, green card and citizen applications from nationals of 39 African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries were unlawful.
The restrictions were imposed after the November 26, 2025 shooting in Washington of the National Guard members by an Afghan man who immigrated to the United States following the Taliban takeover in Kabul.
One of the National Guard members was killed in the attack.
The restrictive immigration policies enacted by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) “threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo,” McConnell wrote.
“USCIS´s hold on adjudications cannot be attributed to anything that these individuals did wrong; rather, it arises solely by the happenstance of their birth,” the judge said.
“Over six months later, many of those individuals remain without work, without legal status, and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures,” McConnell said.
