{"id":5047,"date":"2026-07-16T06:33:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5047"},"modified":"2026-07-16T06:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:33:22","slug":"r-i-judge-denies-trump-administrations-bid-to-reinstate-ban-on-immigrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5047","title":{"rendered":"R.I. judge denies Trump administration\u2019s bid to reinstate ban on immigrants"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>PROVIDENCE \u2014 A federal court judge denied the Trump administration\u2019s attempts to resume policies that halted asylum, work permits, and citizenship proceedings for people from 39 African, Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5045\">After six years, Trump brings his election obsession to primetime at the White House<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>US District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. was immediately skeptical of the arguments made by Justice Department lawyer Tyler Becker during Wednesday\u2019s hearing that the policies were lawful and necessary for \u201cnational security.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>McConnell had struck down those policies in early June, finding they were unlawful and \u201carbitrary and capricious.\u201d The Trump administration appealed and asked McConnell to stay his order during the appeal process, saying there would otherwise be \u201cirreparable harm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>McConnell was unconvinced. In his 28-page opinion issued hours after the hearing, the judge made clear who he thought suffered irreparable harm.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span>\u201cDuring the more than six months that the Challenged Policies were in effect, countless immigrants living in the United States \u2014 solely by virtue of their nationalities and not because of anything they did wrong \u2014 lost jobs, lost legal status, and lost the ability to meaningfully plan for their futures,\u201c McConnell wrote. \u201dThere is overwhelming evidence of harm suffered by these individuals in the record, and there is no doubt that further injury would result if a stay were to be granted. Quite tellingly, the Government has little to say about these harms and provides no evidence to the contrary.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Rhode Map<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>A coalition of unions and nonprofits that aid immigrants and refugees, including the Refugee Dream Center in Providence and Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, sued USCIS and the US Department of Homeland Security earlier this year. Asylum claims and immigration applications were halted, previously approved immigration cases were reopened, even those in the process of citizenship were stopped, based on their nationality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On June 5, McConnell ruled that these policies administrated by USCIS and Homeland Security were unlawful. The judge found that the government had justified its actions with \u201cpretextual concerns of \u2018national security\u2019 that mask anti-immigrant sentiments that it is forbidden from letting influence its decision-making.\u201d USCIS claimed statutory and regulatory authority that it didn\u2019t possess, made decisions without reasoned explanations, and acted without regard for the interests of the immigrant applicants, whose lives were left in legal limbo, McConnell wrote in a scathing 135-page opinion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After a delay, USCIS complied with McConnell\u2019s order and appealed in the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Then, the federal agency filed for an emergency stay of McConnell\u2019s order, claiming the policies were a matter of \u201cnational security and public safety concerns\u201d identified by President Trump, and that there would be \u201cirreparable harm\u201d if they could not resume.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In Courtroom 1 \u2014 the same courtroom where naturalization ceremonies are held each month \u2014 McConnell drilled down on Becker\u2019s arguments to vacate the order.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>McConnell asked Becker for the rule in the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives USCIS the right to make a sweeping policy that targets people solely based on their nationality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe are talking about people in this country, sometimes decades long, who are applying legally and trying to follow the rules,\u201d McConnell said to Becker. \u201cWhere does it give [USCIS] unbridled discretion?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5043\">Trump is taking longer to approve disaster aid and denying Democratic states more frequently<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Nothing in the Immigration and Nationality Act gives USCIS the statutory authority to categorically section off countries from the timely processing of immigration benefits, McConnell said. Congress made clear decades agothat the government is prohibited from making immigration decisions based on national origin, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThey chose that was not an American value,\u201d McConnell said. \u201c[They] cannot treat people differently based on their nationality.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The government was complying with his order weeks before it filed a motion for an emergency stay, and showed no evidence of any harm, McConnell said. \u201cThat leads me to believe there can\u2019t be irreparable harm, when you implemented the court order,\u201d the judge said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>McConnell also said he was \u201ctaken aback\u201d by an affidavit submitted by USCIS deputy director Angelica Alfonso-Royals. She defended the ban on the 39 countries by talking about the lack of vetting in Ethiopia, Liberia, and Pakistan \u2014 none of which were actually part of the ban.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHow can I take it seriously when the deputy director is putting forward evidence that is wholly inapplicable? You\u2019ve now pointed out that countries not on the list have the same problems as countries on the list,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cIt makes it hard to give credibility to the evidence. &#8230; There is zero evidence of irreparable harm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Lawyer Ryan Cooper of the Democracy Forward Foundation, part of the coalition that brought the lawsuit against USCIS and Homeland Security, told the judge the order that vacated the policies \u201chas provided immigration communities with meaningful relief.\u201d Some have been notified that they will be able to take the oaths of citizenship, which had been put on hold, Cooper said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>McConnell responded that not everyone praised his order. A Republican congressman from Florida, Greg Steube, introduced a resolution to impeach McConnell \u201cfor high crimes and misdemeanors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While USCIS has claimed that the policies were meant as a temporary measure, there was no sign that the federal governmentintended to lift the bans on those 39 countries, Cooper said. \u201cIt was an indefinite measure,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And, if McConnell decided to stay his order and let the federal government resume a freeze on asylum and immigration proceedings, it \u201cwould effectively shut down the system for these immigrants again for months, if not years,\u201d Cooper said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Democracy Forward president Skye Perryman praised McConnell\u2019s decision Wednesday evening. \u201cFamilies who followed the law should not be forced to endure renewed uncertainty because of discriminatory government actions,\u201d Perryman said. \u201cWhile the case continues, the court\u2019s decision preserves critical protections for immigrant communities and reinforces a fundamental principle: our government must follow the law.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5041\">Trump expected to make election conspiracies a focus of Thursday\u2019s national address<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThey cannot treat people differently based on nationality,\u201d said US District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>R.I. judge denies Trump administration\u2019s bid to reinstate ban on immigrants - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5047\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"R.I. judge denies Trump administration\u2019s bid to reinstate ban on immigrants - Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThey cannot treat people differently based on nationality,\u201d said US District Court Judge John J. 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