The Trump administration faced two major legal challenges to its immigration policies. A federal judge in Boston issued an injunction stopping the Department of Homeland Security from implementing fixed time limits on certain visa categories. The ruling prevented the administration from capping F visas for international students and J visas for cultural exchange visitors at four years, as well as limiting I visas for journalists to 240 days. The judge, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, found the government’s national security and fraud prevention arguments unconvincing and warned that the restrictions would cause catastrophic damage to higher education and the broader US economy.
The visa cap restriction would have affected approximately 1.6 million international students and 500,000 exchange program visitors. In a separate legal action, a coalition of 22 states plus the District of Columbia filed suit in Manhattan federal court to block a different regulation scheduled to take effect later in the week. The states, led by New York, California, and Illinois, joined by six cities and counties, challenged a rule that would expand criteria for denying green cards based on public benefit usage.
The disputed regulation represents a shift from the prior administration’s approach to evaluating green card applications. The Biden administration had permitted immigration officers to consider cash assistance but prohibited them from penalizing the use of non-cash benefits such as food assistance and Medicaid. The Trump administration seeks to reinstate earlier policies that would treat non-cash assistance as disqualifying and extend scrutiny to benefits accessed by family members of applicants.
Plaintiffs in the case argued that the administration lacked legal authority to unilaterally establish new residency criteria without congressional action. They contended the policy violates federal statutes by penalizing lawful use of public assistance programs. A Department of Homeland Security representative defended the regulation in response, characterizing opponents as political adversaries concerned about funding implications.
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