A group of immigrant groups have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after it paused visa processing for dozens of countries.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims that the policy is based on “an unsupported and demonstrably false claim that nationals of the covered countries migrate to the United States to improperly rely on cash welfare and are likely to become ‘public charges.'”
“Ignoring both law and fact, [the Department of State] has invented a visa processing- regime that is not grounded in the [Immigration and Nationality Act] or its regulations—one that authorizes visa refusals based solely on nationality, without individualized assessment or statutory authority,” the filing adds. “The result is a blanket deprivation of the case by case -adjudication Congress mandated, unlawfully denying and stripping working people and families of the individualized adjudication, approval and immigration visa issuance process the INA guarantees.”
The development comes as the State Department announced last month that it paused visa processing for 75 countries in an effort to protect American taxpayers. According to a statement shared on social media, individuals from the 75 countries “take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.”
“We are working to ensure the generosity of the American people will no longer be abused,” the agency noted. “The Trump Administration will always put America First.”
The State Department said that nationals of the following countries are under visa pauses: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
