US JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP-ERA IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS TARGETING 39 COUNTRIES

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Agency Report

A United States federal judge has blocked a series of immigration restrictions introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration following the 2025 shooting of two National Guard members by an Afghan immigrant in Washington.

District Judge John McConnell ruled that the measures, which affected asylum applications, work permits, green card processing and citizenship requests for nationals from 39 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, were unlawful.

The restrictions were introduced after the November 26, 2025 shooting near the White House, in which an Afghan immigrant allegedly opened fire on National Guard personnel, killing one service member.

In his ruling delivered on Friday, Judge McConnell said the immigration measures unfairly placed thousands of lawful immigrants in prolonged uncertainty.

He stated that the restrictions “threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo.”

According to the judge, many affected individuals had remained without employment opportunities, legal certainty, or the ability to make plans for their future for more than six months.

“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,” McConnell wrote.

The court also criticised the justification behind the restrictions, stating that the immigration agency relied on what it described as “pretextual concerns of national security” that concealed broader anti-immigration motives.

Judge McConnell, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, clarified that the ruling was not based on the political merits of the policy but on whether the actions complied with existing law.

“The court concludes that they do not,” he stated, adding that the measures were “contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious.”

President Trump had campaigned on a promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and, following the National Guard shooting, pledged to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.”

The suspect in the shooting, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, had reportedly entered the United States under a resettlement programme established after the 2021 American withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Lakanwal, who previously served in a CIA-backed force fighting the Taliban, has pleaded not guilty and is currently awaiting trial.