The Donald Trump administration unlawfully blocked immigration benefit decisions for applicants from 39 travel-ban countries, a US federal judge has ruled. This includes asylum, work permits, green cards and citizenship applications. India was not part of the travel ban list. The judge said the government lacked legal authority for such sweeping delays and noted that applicants had complied fully with established immigration procedures. (Bloomberg) The decision was delivered by John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, who found that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) implemented a series of unlawful policies affecting applicants from across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Gulf region. The ruling coincided with the US Senate passing legislation tied to Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. Background The case was filed in March by a coalition of immigrant service organisations and labour unions, challenging measures introduced from November onward by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the US Department of Homeland Security. Those policies imposed a sweeping pause on immigration benefit processing for individuals from 39 countries already under full or …