On Friday (August 21), Judge Jeanette Vargas of the Manhattan court in the Southern District of New York delivered the verdict. According to her observation, the Trump administration's visa suspension policy conflicts with federal immigration law and is clearly illegal.

The court believes that federal law limits the secretary of state's ability to interfere with consular officers' authority to approve visas. The ruling also noted that suspending immigrant visas for citizens of specific countries based solely on nationality is not consistent with the existing legal framework.

The lawsuit against this decision was filed by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, African Communities Together, several visa applicants, and their US citizen relatives. The case was heard in Judge Jeanette Vargas's court. She was appointed as a judge during former US President Joe Biden's tenure.

The Trump administration's visa suspension had been in effect since January of this year. It affected citizens of Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay in Latin America; Albania and Bosnia in the Balkans; Bangladesh and Pakistan in South Asia; as well as various countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

The US State Department's argument was that citizens of these countries might become overly dependent on government assistance after entering the United States. For this reason, the decision to suspend immigrant visas was made.

Since returning to power, President Donald Trump has taken several strict measures to control immigration. Earlier, travel restrictions were imposed on citizens of 39 countries. In continuation, his administration also took steps to restrict various types of visas.

Meanwhile, civil rights organizations have welcomed the court's ruling. They allege that the visa suspension policy undermined immigrants' legal rights and freedom of expression.

However, the US State Department has not yet given any formal response to the court's latest ruling.