A federal judge has struck sweeping restrictions imposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump on immigration processing for 39 countries.

The ruling on Friday by District Judge John McConnell condemned the restrictions imposed in November 2025, following the Washington, DC shooting of two National Guard members.

McConnell said the policy effectively barred citizens from 39 countries from receiving final decisions on asylum cases, green cards, work approval and citizenship applications.

The change “threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo”, he wrote in the ruling.

McConnell particularly took issue with the Trump administration’s claims that the restrictions were needed to address national security concerns.

He said US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) used “pretextual concerns of ‘national security’ that mask anti-immigrant sentiments”.

“USCIS’s hold on adjudications cannot be attributed to anything that these individuals did wrong; rather, it arises solely by the happenstance of their birth,” the judge said.

“Over six months later, many of those individuals remain without work, without legal status, and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures,” McConnell said.

The 39 countries in question are located predominantly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Trump had campaigned on pledges to oversee a mass deportation campaign to expel undocumented individuals living in the US, but has increasingly targeted legal immigration pathways.

In January, the US Department of State separately paused the processing of most immigrant visas from 75 countries, claiming immigrants from those countries posed a high risk of becoming reliant on US social services.

The Trump administration has also dropped the cap on the number of heavily vetted refugees allowed into the US, initially setting the number at a historically low 7,500, before raising it by 10,000.

The administration has prioritised the relocation of White Afrikaners, a move critics have decried as blatantly racist.

In a statement, Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said the latest ruling “reaffirms a basic principle: the federal government cannot shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on where they come from”.

“These unlawful policies caused enormous harm to families, workers, asylum seekers, and communities across the country who were left in limbo, unable to work, access protections, or move forward with their lives,” she said.