“Secretary Of State Exceeded His Statutory Authority” — US Court Invalidates Immigrant Visa Suspension Affecting Nigeria, 74 Countries

A United States federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s suspension of immigrant visa processing and issuance for nationals of 75 countries, including Nigeria, holding that the State Department’s nationality-based policy was contrary to federal law and exceeded the statutory authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
US District Judge Jeannette Vargas of the United States District Court in Manhattan delivered the ruling on Friday, about seven months after the policy took effect on January 21, 2026.
The court held that consular officers could not be directed to categorically refuse immigrant visas merely because an applicant was a national of one of the designated countries, including where the individual applicant had otherwise been found eligible for a visa.
In legal terms, Judge Vargas found that the State Department had acted beyond the authority conferred on the Secretary of State by Congress and that the blanket nationality-based suspension was inconsistent with the statutory scheme governing immigrant visa adjudication.
“The policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme,” Vargas wrote.
The judge consequently invalidated the January directive, which had effectively suspended immigrant visa issuance to nationals of 75 countries while the State Department conducted what it described as a comprehensive reassessment of screening, vetting and public-charge procedures.
The ruling does not prevent US consular officers from applying the existing “public charge” provisions of immigration law to individual applicants. Rather, the court rejected the administration’s use of nationality as a blanket basis for suspending immigrant visa processing for all applicants from the affected countries.
The public-charge principle permits immigration authorities, subject to applicable law, to consider whether an individual seeking admission to the United States is likely to become primarily dependent on public assistance.
The Trump administration had relied heavily on that concern in announcing the January suspension.
At the time, the State Department said the measure was intended “to ensure that immigrants from high-risk countries do not unlawfully utilise welfare in the United States or become a public charge.”
A State Department cable sent to US diplomatic missions directed consular officers to refuse applications involving nationals of the listed countries, including cases in which visas had already been “print-authorised” but had not yet been physically issued.
The department maintained that applicants from the designated countries presented a heightened risk of becoming dependent on local, state or federal public resources.
“Applicants from these countries are at a high risk for becoming a public charge and recourse to local, state and federal government resources in the United States,” the cable stated.
Principal Deputy State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott had also defended the measure, saying the department intended to exercise its authority to exclude prospective immigrants who could become public charges.
“The State Department will use its long-standing authority to deem ineligible potential immigrants who would become a public charge on the United States and exploit the generosity of the American people,” he said.
“Immigration from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.”
President Donald Trump had earlier cited welfare-use statistics concerning immigrant households, including a claim that about 33.3 per cent of Nigerian immigrant households received some form of public assistance.
Under the administration’s interpretation of the policy, factors such as age, health, weight, previous receipt of government cash assistance and past institutionalisation could also feature in public-charge assessments.
Judge Vargas, however, distinguished the government’s authority to assess the circumstances of individual applicants from a categorical suspension imposed on entire nationalities.
She held that the relevant federal immigration law did not give the Secretary of State the power exercised through the January directive and that the policy therefore ran afoul of the governing statutory framework.
The case was instituted by immigrant-rights organisations Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, alongside US citizens sponsoring relatives and visa applicants from affected countries.
They challenged the legality of the blanket suspension, arguing that the government had unlawfully prevented qualified applicants from having their immigrant visa applications processed according to the requirements established by Congress.
The 75 affected countries are Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
For Nigerians and other affected nationals, the judgment removes the blanket nationality-based suspension challenged in the suit, although applicants remain subject to all other applicable US immigration requirements, security screening and lawful public-charge determinations made on an individual basis.
The decision is another judicial setback for aspects of President Trump’s immigration programme since his return to office, during which his administration has pursued tighter controls on legal and irregular immigration on national-security and economic grounds.
The judgment is, however, subject to appeal, and the United States government may seek review before a higher federal court.
Unless stayed or reversed on appeal, Judge Vargas’s ruling stands as a judicial determination that the State Department could not, through the January directive, categorically stop the issuance of immigrant visas to citizens of the 75 countries solely on the basis of nationality and purported public-charge risk.
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