Judge Orders USCIS to Resume Processing of Stalled Immigration Cases

Judge Orders USCIS to Resume Processing of Stalled Immigration Cases

A federal judge has ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to immediately restart processing for millions of immigration applications that were put on hold. The ruling, issued on June 5, 2026, by Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, strikes down agency policies that created nationwide processing freezes. These holds had affected green cards, work permits, and asylum cases for months, leaving many immigrants in legal uncertainty.

The court found that the USCIS policies violated the Administrative Procedure Act and exceeded the agency’s legal authority. The decision specifically targets four policy memoranda issued between December 2025 and January 2026. These policies had imposed indefinite holds on affirmative asylum applications and suspended processing for green card applications (Form I-485), work permit requests (Form I-765), and naturalization filings (Form N-400) for individuals from 39 designated high-risk countries.

Vacated USCIS Policies and Their Impact

The ruling in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS invalidates several key USCIS directives that significantly slowed down immigration processing. These directives created broad categories of delays, impacting a vast number of applicants who had followed all legal requirements for their applications. The court’s decision ensures that these policies are no longer in effect for any affected applicants, not just those who brought the case.

The four policies that were set aside include:

• Global Asylum Hold: This policy indefinitely stopped all affirmative asylum adjudications. Asylum seekers, who often face urgent circumstances, found their cases frozen without a clear path forward.
• Benefits Hold: This directive suspended the processing of several critical forms, including Form I-485 for green cards, Form I-765 for work permits, and Form N-400 for naturalization. This created significant delays for individuals seeking permanent residency or the ability to work legally in the U.S.
• Comprehensive Re-Review: This policy introduced additional vetting for already approved benefits for certain individuals who entered the U.S. after January 2021. It added an extra layer of scrutiny that was not previously required.
• Country-Specific Factors Policy: This directive instructed adjudicators to consider an applicant’s country of origin as a “significant negative factor” in discretionary decisions. This effectively made nationality a barrier to immigration benefits.

The Court’s Reasoning and National Security Concerns

Judge McConnell’s ruling emphasized that the USCIS processing holds were not due to any fault of the applicants themselves. Instead, the delays stemmed from agency directives tied to their country of origin. The court noted that immigrants had followed the law, but agency actions blocked their progress. The judge stated that the agency had violated the immigration laws it was meant to administer.

The case involved nationals from 39 countries identified as high-risk by the government. These included nations like Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. The court found that applications remained pending not because of individual security concerns or missing documentation, but because of these blanket policies based on nationality.

USCIS had cited “operational necessity” and national security concerns following a November 2025 incident involving an Afghan national. However, Judge McConnell rejected this explanation, calling the national security rationale “pretextual.” He concluded that the agency used the incident to justify “anti-immigrant sentiments” that are unlawful for it to consider. The court found that USCIS had adopted these processing holds without proper legal authority and made decisions based on national origin, which is unlawful.

Immediate Effects and Broader Implications

The immediate consequence of this ruling is that USCIS must resume standard adjudication procedures for all affected applications. This means that cases for work permits, travel documents, permanent residency, and naturalization that were stalled under the vacated holds can now move forward. The decision lifts the indefinite legal limbo that had trapped countless immigrants.

The ruling’s impact extends beyond just asylum claims. The vacated policies affected affirmative asylum adjudications, benefits that had already been approved, and other discretionary immigration decisions. This created a widespread freeze across various parts of the USCIS system.

Experts had estimated that USCIS collected over $1 billion in fees for more than two million applications that it then refused to process. The Benefits Hold, in particular, had been in effect for 185 days before the ruling. The court’s order directs USCIS to restart processing, returning applicants to the regular rules that governed their filings before the freeze began. This decision arrives as scrutiny of USCIS policies has broadened, with administrative efforts to tighten adjudication standards for certain noncitizens also underway.