US federal judge strikes down Trump's permanent visa freeze on 75 countries

A US federal judge has overturned a policy suspending immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries. The policy, introduced in January, was ruled "contrary to law" and exceeded the State Department's legal authority.

The judge, Jeannette Vargas, found that consular officers were wrongly ordered to refuse immigrant visas solely based on an applicant's country of origin. The ruling vacates any visa denial based solely on the policy, though the government can appeal.

Countries affected by the policy included Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Thailand, and Yemen. The State Department had said the decision aimed to prevent immigrants from "high-risk countries" from unlawfully using US welfare or becoming a public charge.

Brief written by urgent.news from Le Monde English, France 24, IOL, New Straits Times, Malay Mail — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.