A federal judge on August 21 vacated a Trump administration pause on immigrant-visa issuance for nationals of 75 countries, but did not disturb President Donald Trump’s separate national-security restrictions on 39 countries.
U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas ruled in Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. v. Rubio that the policy violated immigration law and exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s authority. She set aside immigrant-visa refusals based solely on the policy and remanded them for further consular adjudication.
The August 21 order does not guarantee a visa. Other refusal grounds and Presidential Proclamation 10998 remain.
What Vargas ruled
The State Department announced the policy January 14, 2026, effective January 21. It said immigrants should be self-sufficient while officials reviewed screening and vetting policies for applicants from countries deemed high-risk for public-benefits reliance or becoming public charges.
The record said officials generally selected countries where more than 30% of immigrant households received public assistance, with foreign-policy exceptions.
Applicants could apply and attend interviews, but Rubio’s cable required officers to refuse an immigrant-visa application under INA § 221(g) if no other ineligibility, including public charge, applied.
Vargas held that the command violated § 1152(a)(1)(A)’s bar on nationality discrimination in immigrant-visa issuance and § 1201(g) because an otherwise eligible applicant’s inclusion in the policy was neither legal ineligibility nor a noncompliant application.
She also found a conflict with 22 C.F.R. § 40.6 and held that Rubio exceeded § 1104(a)’s limit on controlling consular visa decisions.
The public-charge ground in § 1182(a)(4) remains. Vargas rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge under that provision because the cable retained individualized assessments. The administration prevailed on Count Three because the policy was not a legislative rule requiring notice and comment.
Plaintiff counsel Sarah Wilson said the decision affirmed that “this kind of sweeping suspension is not permitted by law.” The administration was protecting Americans through the highest screening and vetting standards, the State Department said August 22, but it declined to comment on pending litigation, The Associated Press reported.
What remains in force
As The Dallas Express previously reported, Proclamation 10998, issued December 16, 2025, under INA § 212(f), took effect January 1, 2026. It rests on national-security, public-safety, identity-management and information-sharing findings, not Rubio’s policy. The proclamation suspends entry, while State implements visa-issuance restrictions. The lists overlap in 23 countries.
The proclamation fully restricts immigrant and nonimmigrant entry for nationals of Afghanistan, Burma, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
It also fully suspends immigrant and nonimmigrant entry of foreign nationals traveling on Palestinian Authority-issued or endorsed documents.
It suspends immigrant entry and B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M and J nonimmigrant entry for nationals of Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Officers must reduce the validity of other nonimmigrant visas they issue where law permits. For Turkmenistan, immigrant entry and immigrant-visa issuance remain suspended, while its B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M and J suspension was lifted.
Subject to exceptions, it applies only to covered foreign nationals who were outside the United States and lacked a valid visa at 12:01 a.m. EST on January 1.
Separate measures also survive. State’s December 23 guidance still pauses issuance to all diversity-immigrant-visa applicants. Consular officers retain individualized public-charge authority.
State said August 5 that a pilot permits officers to require select applicants refused on public-charge grounds to seek a bond; approval does not assure issuance.
Vargas used policy-wide APA vacatur, not a universal injunction. On August 23, the public docket showed no appeal, stay request or Rule 54(b) partial judgment. The order directed partial judgment, and an appeal remains possible.
The parties must file a joint letter by September 11 proposing how to proceed with claims involving a separate November 2025 public-charge cable and other theories.
Provided by Dallas Express
