By Ebi Kesiena
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has been sued over its sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for nationals of Nigeria and 74 other countries, a policy critics describe as unlawful and discriminatory.
A coalition of pro-immigration organisations filed the lawsuit at a federal district court in Manhattan, challenging the U.S. State Department’s decision to halt immigrant visas for citizens of the affected countries. The policy, announced in January, claimed migrants from those nations relied on American welfare at “unacceptable rates.”
In the suit, the groups argued that the justification for the ban was flawed and unsupported, noting that many immigrant visa applicants are not eligible for U.S. cash welfare benefits and, in most cases, remain ineligible for years.
“Many applicants for immigrant visas are not eligible for cash welfare and remain ineligible for years,” the plaintiffs stated in court filings.
According to the lawsuit, the visa freeze was premised on what it called “an unsupported and demonstrably false claim” that nationals of the listed countries migrate to the United States to improperly depend on welfare programmes.
Countries named in the suit include Nigeria, Haiti, Ghana, Brazil, Cuba, and 70 others. The case also lists U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a defendant. Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants who moved to the United States in 1956.
Anna Gallagher, director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. and the lead plaintiff, accused the administration of overreach.
“This administration is trying to shut down lawful immigration from nearly half the countries in the world without legal authority or justification,” she said.
Another plaintiff, Joanna Cuevas Ingram of the National Immigration Law Centre, described the policy as a clear violation of existing laws and constitutional protections.
“These policies exceed the government’s authority, violate the constitution, and strip families and working people of rights that the law squarely protects,” Cuevas said.
The State Department had announced in January that it was pausing immigrant visa processing from 75 countries, arguing that migrants from those nations were placing an unfair burden on American welfare systems.
“The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” the department said at the time.
However, the coalition behind the lawsuit said the policy has caused widespread hardship, particularly for families separated from spouses and children due to the visa suspension.
The case is filed as Catholic Legal Immigration Network.
