Court Orders Government To Learn Visa Applicants’ Names

A federal judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration may not determine the character, finances and future conduct of millions of visa applicants by locating their countries on a list. U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas vacated the administration’s suspension of immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries, finding that the policy was contrary to law and exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s authority. The decision dismantled the State Department’s streamlined public-charge test, under which consular officers could replace individualized review with the legally sophisticated conclusion that an applicant’s passport had bad vibes.

The ruling means visa refusals based solely on nationality must be reconsidered under ordinary immigration law, forcing officers to examine such distracting details as employment, finances, family ties and personal circumstances. President Donald Trump condemned the return of facts to the process. “We had the greatest screening system ever created because seventy-five countries told us everything about every person, instantly and with absolutely no mistakes,” Trump said. “Now a judge wants paperwork, evidence and individual decisions, which is very expensive and frankly unfair to the list.” Rubio’s State Department maintained that the blanket suspension protected Americans through stringent screening and vetting, using the administration’s preferred definition of screening: declining to inspect the person being screened.

Administration officials said the country-based system saved valuable time by recognizing that millions of unrelated people who share a nationality also share one bank account, one résumé and one intention. Legal experts warned that Vargas’s reasoning could spread beyond immigration, potentially requiring federal agencies to follow statutes, remain within their delegated authority and produce explanations more detailed than “we highlighted these places.” The administration may appeal, giving higher courts an opportunity to decide whether discrimination becomes individualized when the government applies it to 75 nationalities at once. Until then, consular officers must endure the administrative burden of treating human beings as separate human beings. A country of birth, the administration has established, remains a complete biography.

* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.