CMC – Caribbean immigration advocates in New York have welcomed a United States Federal District Court ruling striking down the Trump administration’s indefinite suspension of immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries, including some in the Caribbean.
US District Judge Jeannette Vargas in the Southern District of New York, on Fridat, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in CLINIC v. Rubio, stating that the Trump administration’s policy was “contrary to law and in excess of statutory authority.”
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella advocacy organization of over 200 immigrant and refugee groups in New York State, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Saturday that, “by siding with the plaintiffs, the court restores the long-standing immigration process that ensures visas are issued on a case-by-case basis, not decided by nationality.
“The court called the administration’s actions what they were: illegal,” Awawdeh said. “Maintaining objectivity in immigration matters means ensuring that decisions, evaluations and representations are neutral, evidence-based, and free from personal bias or politics, so they serve the integrity of the legal process and the best interests of the parties involved.
“This ruling means that a mother in Brooklyn can go back to planning for being reunited with a daughter that she has been waiting years to hold,” he added. “This is a victory for fairness, justice and all the families who were separated by this discriminatory policy.”
Awawdeh said CLINIC’s legal case was provoked by Trump’s policy in pausing all immigrant visa issuance to 75 countries, “disproportionately affecting countries with majority nonwhite or ethnic minority populations,” including many in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
“The Trump administration cited concerns about these immigrants becoming ‘public charge’ risks, and expanded its definition of ‘public charge’ to include any public benefit used, even though most visa applicants are not eligible for cash welfare and remain ineligible for years,” Awawdeh said.
“The plaintiffs succeeded in arguing that this is a nationality-based ban that replaces the law’s requirement for individualized consular review with a blanket rule, which exceeded the agency’s statutory authority,” he added. “The court held that the ban exceeds the Secretary of State’s (Marco Rubio) authority and violates the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
Judge Vargas ruled that Rubio, the son of Cuban migrants residing in Miami, Florida, exceeded his power by issuing the policy that “runs afoul” of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
She wrote that the refusal of visas to eligible applicants did not have “any basis in law,” ruling that the US Congress “imbued” consular officers with “exclusive authority and discretion to determine if an immigrant is eligible for a visa based upon review of specific and detailed criteria set forth in the statute.
“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,” Judge Vargas added.
Effective January 21, 2026, the Department of State said it paused all visa issuances to immigrant visa applicants who are nationals of several countries.
They included the following Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Other countries were: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, , Belarus, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Iran, Iraq, 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, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
At the time, the State Department said “no immigrant visas have been revoked as part of this guidance,” and that the pause was “specifically for immigrant visa applicants.
“Tourist visas are nonimmigrant visas and are not affected,” it said.
