United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump has faced another major legal setback after a federal judge struck down the administration’s immigrant visa ban affecting 75 nations.
Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled on Friday that the visa ban was contrary to the law.
In January, the State Department imposed an immigrant visa ban on the 75 countries (around 40% of the world’s nations) in a bid to prevent the people, who according to the administration, take “welfare and public benefits,” from the country.
The affected countries included Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Haiti, Russia, Somalia and several others.
However, the judge has now declared these actions outside the statutory authority of the Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Under U.S. law, an immigrant can be denied a visa if a consular officer determines that the person is likely to become a public charge (rely solely on government support).
However, the policy allowed officers to deny visas based on nationality rather than making an individualized assessment.
Judge Vargas described that the latest policy of the government ran afoul of a 1965 law barring discrimination by nationality in granting visas.
The Trump administration has not yet officially announced whether it will appeal the ruling. The judge has given both sides until September 11 to propose further measures.
