US judge strikes down Trump policies targeting immigrants from 39 countries

(Reuters) – A federal judge has ruled that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had adopted a ‌series of unlawful policies that have barred people from 39 countries from receiving decisions on applications for asylum, work permits, green cards and citizenship._x000D_
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Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, struck down, opens new tab a slate of policies that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had adopted that he ​said left people from dozens of African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries in “indeterminate legal limbo.”_x000D_
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He said the ​immigrants had adhered to the legal processes that Congress had enacted and USCIS had adopted by ⁠regulation, yet had been “stuck waiting, for months on end, for benefit requests that USCIS refuses to adjudicate.”_x000D_
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The judge, who was appointed ​by Democratic President Barack Obama, said it adopted the policies without statutory and regulatory authority and based on “anti-immigrant sentiments that it is ​forbidden from letting influence its decision-making.”_x000D_
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“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,” he wrote._x000D_
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The ruling marked a victory for a coalition of immigrant service organizations and labor unions that in March sued ​to challenge policies adopted by USCIS, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security._x000D_
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“This ruling reaffirms a basic principle: ​the federal government cannot shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on where they come from,” said Skye Perryman, the head ‌of the ⁠liberal legal group Democracy Forward, which represents the plaintiffs._x000D_
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DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment._x000D_
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USCIS adopted the policies as part of a ramped-up immigration crackdown the Trump administration carried out after the November shooting of two National Guard members stationed in Washington, D.C., which prosecutors say was carried out by an Afghan immigrant.