The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge in Rhode Island has thrown out four USCIS policies that singled out people from 39 countries and put their immigration cases on ice. In a June 5 order, Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. said the agency had no legal basis for the moves, did not give a lawful explanation for them, and relied on national-security claims that could not carry the day. ([courthousenews.com](https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/uscis-order-travel-ban-benefits.pdf))

The court vacated the Benefits Hold Policy, the Global Asylum Hold Policy, the Comprehensive Re-Review Policy, and the Country-Specific Factors Policy. In the order, McConnell wrote that USCIS had told officers to stop final decisions on certain requests, including asylum, work permits, green cards, and citizenship applications, for people tied to the covered countries. He also said the agency imposed those restrictions on people who had already followed the rules, filed paperwork, paid fees, provided biometrics, and shown up for interviews. ([courthousenews.com](https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/uscis-order-travel-ban-benefits.pdf))

The judge said USCIS tried to justify the changes with authority it did not have and offered no reasoned explanation for why the policies were needed. He also found the agency had not properly accounted for the people who had already relied on the existing process, and he concluded the challenged policies were unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act. ([courthousenews.com](https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/uscis-order-travel-ban-benefits.pdf))

The decision came after the November 26, 2025, shooting in Washington, D.C., that killed one National Guard member and wounded another, an event the court noted in recounting the policy shift. But the ruling did not bless a blanket immigration shutdown. It targeted a cluster of nationality-based USCIS rules, and the remedy was vacatur of those policies rather than a broader injunction. ([courthousenews.com](https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/uscis-order-travel-ban-benefits.pdf))

For applicants caught in the middle, the practical effect is to wipe out the specific USCIS restrictions that had delayed or derailed case handling for months. The court’s order leaves the agency to process those matters without the nationality-based rules it adopted after the shooting. ([courthousenews.com](https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/uscis-order-travel-ban-benefits.pdf))