Overview
- The 39-page ruling, published Monday, requires U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to resume work on green card cases for 83 immigrants who sued.
- Judge George L. Russell III found the agency’s categorical, open-ended pause unlawful and wrote that USCIS cannot refuse to decide cases at all.
- The order does not lift the freeze for everyone and it does not impose 30-day deadlines, so non-plaintiffs may still see their cases on hold.
- USCIS said it paused adjudications for nationals of 39 countries under expanded travel and visa restrictions to allow extra screening for what it calls high-risk cases.
- Advocates tracking the halt estimate more than $1 billion in fees tied to over 2 million stalled applications, and similar lawsuits now pending could cite this ruling.