Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump’s 75-Country Visa Ban Designed to Stop Welfare Abuse

A Biden-appointed federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s suspension of immigrant visas for foreign nationals of 75 countries, handing immigration activists another victory against President Trump’s effort to slam the brakes on mass immigration.

And once again, a law passed more than 60 years ago — the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, better known as the Hart-Celler Act — is a specter still haunting America’s broken immigration system.

At the heart of the case is the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), a “religious” organization that has gotten into the legalized human trafficking racket.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York ruled that Secretary of State Marco Rubio exceeded his statutory authority when the State Department ordered consular officers to stop issuing immigrant visas to nationals of 75 countries while the administration reviewed public-charge risks.

SCOTUS Wire reports:

🚨 A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration's suspension of immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries, ruling the State Department policy violates federal immigration law and exceeds Secretary Marco Rubio's authority. pic.twitter.com/GPRez33uI6
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) August 22, 2026

“A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration's suspension of immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries, ruling the State Department policy violates federal immigration law and exceeds Secretary Marco Rubio's authority.”

“Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled federal law expressly prohibits nationality discrimination in issuing immigrant visas. She distinguished Trump v. Hawaii, which allowed nationality-based restrictions on entry, because the State Department policy directly restricts visa issuance.”

“Vargas ruled the policy was reviewable under the APA because it was final agency action: it imposed mandatory instructions requiring consular officers to refuse visas and had immediate legal consequences, even though individual officers implemented those refusals.”

Here is what the legacy media is not highlighting about this huge case: It has to do with the extraordinary numbers of immigrants who are on public welfare.

The State Department policy took effect January 21. The Trump administration selected countries using government data showing rates of public-assistance use among immigrant households by country of origin. Nations above a 30 percent threshold were generally included, subject to some foreign-policy exceptions.

Currently, the United States has 59 percent of non-citizen households and 53 percent of immigrant households on public welfare. That’s according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

This is a matter of national security. As Milton Friedman said, “It is one thing to have free immigration to jobs and another thing to have free immigration to welfare. And you cannot have both.”

“It is one thing to have free immigration to jobs and another thing to have free immigration to welfare. And you cannot have both.” - Milton Friedman

Today:

• 59% of non-citizen households are on welfare
• 53% of immigrant households are on welfare

This is not sustainable pic.twitter.com/fZ0Lu5WjjT
— Alec Lace (@AlecLace) August 16, 2026

So, an activist judge, once again, is defending entrenched socialism — literally, the Cloward-Piven strategy designed to overwhelm the system — by overruling the president.

The Supreme Court will once again have to try to restore a bit of sanity to America’s immigration system by striking down this ruling or at least limiting the damage.

But the fact that America is even having to have this battle shows how close the nation is to the precipice.

Editor’s Note: Republicans are fighting for election integrity by requiring proper identification to vote. It's common sense, yet Democrats are spreading lies about the impact of such a measure.

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