Federal Judge Rejects USCIS Pause on Immigration Applications

The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction, requiring U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to lift adjudicative holds.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building outside outside of Denver, Colo. on July 14, 2019. Chet Strange/AFP via Getty Images

A federal judge on April 30 rejected key parts of the Trump administration’s policies preventing adjudication of immigration benefit applications, determining that an indefinite “adjudicative hold” and treating nationality as a “significant negative factor” are likely to be found unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick in Massachusetts permitted a partial preliminary injunction for approximately two dozen named plaintiffs in the case Akmurat O. Doe et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al.