Trump Immigration Freeze Blocked as Judge Orders USCIS Processing to Resume
A federal judge in Ohio ordered the Trump administration to restart processing certain immigration benefit applications, dealing another court setback to USCIS policies that paused cases tied to nationality and country of birth.
U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley granted a preliminary injunction in Doe 1 v. Edlow, a case brought by foreign nationals who said applications for work authorization, green cards and other immigration benefits had been stalled under USCIS and Department of Homeland Security policies linked to countries covered by Trump travel restrictions.
The order does not grant immigration benefits outright. It requires USCIS to resume processing the plaintiffs’ pending applications without applying the challenged policies. Marbley also ordered the agency to adjudicate certain pending work authorization applications within 30 days.
The court record says the plaintiffs are legally present in the United States, live across 13 states, and include graduates of American universities, workers in science and engineering, health care workers, a physics professor, cancer research workers and parents raising families in the U.S.
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Marbley found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that the policies unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act. He also rejected the government’s broad national security rationale at this stage, writing that the government had not shown how delaying decisions for people already inside the country would address public safety or national security concerns.
The ruling lands amid a broader series of challenges to Trump administration immigration restrictions. A separate Rhode Island ruling blocked freezes affecting work permits, green cards, citizenship applications and other benefits for noncitizens from 39 countries, while other litigation targets immigrant visa processing restrictions for people from 75 countries.
Online reaction split along familiar lines. Immigration-focused Reddit users asked whether the decision lifts the freeze and how it affects backlogs, while right-leaning forum commenters framed the order as judicial overreach. Those reactions show audience interest, but the controlling facts remain the court order and the next USCIS compliance steps.
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