Judge Voids Trump Visa Ban

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan vacated the Trump administration’s January State Department policy suspending immigrant visa processing or issuance for nationals of 75 countries. The policy, issued under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, covered nearly 40% of the world’s nations, including Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Haiti, Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan and Iran. Vargas ruled the policy exceeded Rubio’s statutory authority and violated the Immigration and Nationality Act’s bar on nationality-based discrimination. The order sets aside visa refusals based solely on the policy and requires those applications to receive individual evaluations.