WASHINGTON, August 22. /Dunyo IA/. U.S. Judge for the Southern District of New York Jeannette Vargas overturned the administration’s suspension of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries, ruling that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had exceeded his authority, reports Dunyo IA correspondent, citing The New York Times.

Judge Jeannette Vargas called the policy “patently unlawful,” saying it prohibited visa issuance based on an applicant’s nationality and conflicted with federal immigration law.

The restrictions, introduced in January, affected countries in Latin America, the Balkans, South and Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

The restrictions also specifically affected Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The list also included Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as Russia, Belarus, Moldova and several other Eastern European countries.

The State Department said the suspension was based on concerns that applicants from these countries were at high risk of becoming dependent on U.S. government resources.

The lawsuit was brought by immigrant rights organizations, immigrant visa applicants and U.S. citizens sponsoring relatives from the affected countries. The ruling is part of ongoing legal disputes over the current administration’s tightening of immigration policy. The U.S. State Department has not yet commented on the decision.

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