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Immigrant rights organizations, legal advocacy groups and several U.S. citizens filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging the Trump administration’s ban on immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries.
The group argues the policy unlawfully rewrites U.S. immigration law and discriminates on the basis of nationality and race and “eviscerated decades of settled immigration law.”
The lawsuit, seen by Fox News Digital, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and names Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. Department of State as defendants.
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The lawsuit hopes to block a State Department policy that took effect Jan. 21 and which indefinitely pauses issuing immigrant visas, but not nonimmigrant visas, including tourist visas, for applicants from the listed countries.
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the pause is an effort to crack down on applicants deemed likely to become a public charge, with departments reassessing screening and vetting procedures.
The group argues the new policy amounts to a “categorical nationality-based ban on legal immigration,” replacing the individualized, case-by-case adjudication required under federal law.
The State Department has justified the pause by claiming applicants from the affected countries pose a heightened risk of becoming “public charges,” or dependent on government assistance.
The lawsuit says the State Department’s policy is “based on an unsupported and demonstrably false claim that nationals of the covered countries migrate to the United States to improperly rely on cash welfare and are likely to become ‘public charges’.”
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According to the complaint, the ban affects roughly 40% to 45% of immigrant visa applicants worldwide and applies even to individuals whose visas have already been approved or have been authorized for printing.
The policy has no stated end date, criteria for review or mechanism for exemptions.
The lawsuit was brought by the National Immigration Law Center along with Democracy Forward, the Legal Aid Society, the Western Center on Law & Poverty, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Colombo & Hurd, among others.
Plaintiffs include nonprofit organizations, U.S. citizens petitioning for family members and employment-based visa applicants.
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One U.S. citizen petitioning is a grandmother in New York whose petitions for her four adult children and three grandchildren from Ghana were approved but the family has been turned away at consular interviews due to the ban.
Another plaintiff is a U.S. citizen from Long Island whose wife and nursing infant traveled to Guatemala for a scheduled interview and are now stranded there indefinitely.
The pause affects applicants from Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay; Balkan nations such as Bosnia and Albania; South Asian countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh; and many countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
The petitioners are also challenging a related State Department directive that expands the definition of “public charge” to include noncash benefits, private charity use and speculative future factors such as health and English proficiency.
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They argue the expansion contradicts decades of immigration law and congressional intent.
The petitioners are asking the court to declare the policies unlawful, block their enforcement nationwide and restore lawful, individualized visa processing.
In a press release, Democracy Forward said, “Once again, the Trump-Vance administration is engaging in a sweeping, discriminatory policy, covered up as a bureaucratic process.”
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward said that “by freezing immigrant visas for people from 75 countries, this administration is tearing families apart, shutting out workers our economy depends on, and reviving a discredited ‘public charge’ lie to justify collective punishment based on nationality and race.”
“The law does not allow the government to blacklist entire nations or weaponize immigration policy to advance racial discrimination. We are in court because no administration has the power to rewrite the Constitution or immigration law at will, and we will use every legal tool available to stop this abuse of power,” Perryman added.
“A visa is a privilege not a right. In accordance with law, Secretary Rubio has made it clear that immigrants must be financially self-sufficient,” Principal Deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement Monday.
“Such a requirement prevents billions in waste, fraud, and abuse and protects public benefits for Americans. The Department is pausing issuance to evaluate and enhance screening and vetting procedures – but we will never stop fighting for American citizens first,” Pigott added.
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