A federal judge has struck down a series of immigration restrictions implemented by the administration of Donald Trump following a deadly 2025 shooting involving an Afghan immigrant, ruling that the measures unlawfully targeted immigrants based on their nationality.
In a decision issued Friday, John McConnell ruled that restrictions affecting asylum applications, work permits, green cards, and citizenship requests from nationals of 39 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East were unlawful.
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The restrictions were introduced after a November 2025 shooting in Washington, D.C., in which one member of the National Guard was killed and another injured. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, had entered the United States through a resettlement program established after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. He has pleaded not guilty and remains awaiting trial.
Judge McConnell found that the policies imposed by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services left thousands of immigrants in prolonged uncertainty without legal justification.
“The lives of countless immigrants living in the United States” were placed in an “indeterminate legal limbo,” McConnell wrote, noting that many applicants had spent more than six months without work authorization, legal status, or clarity about their futures.
The judge further stated that the delays and restrictions stemmed solely from applicants’ countries of birth rather than any individual wrongdoing.
McConnell criticized USCIS for relying on what he described as “pretextual concerns of national security” that effectively masked anti-immigrant sentiment. While acknowledging that courts do not determine the wisdom of government policy, he said they are responsible for ensuring that policies comply with the law.
“The court concludes that they do not,” McConnell wrote, finding the agency’s actions to be “contrary to law” and “arbitrary and capricious.”
The ruling represents a significant setback for immigration measures introduced after the 2025 attack. Following the shooting, Trump had called for a permanent pause on migration from what he described as “Third World Countries” and directed immigration agencies to impose heightened scrutiny on applicants from dozens of nations.
The decision restores normal processing procedures for affected immigration benefits while the administration considers its legal options. It also marks one of the most significant judicial challenges to immigration restrictions enacted in response to the 2025 National Guard shooting.
