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Latin Times
Latin Times
Politics
José Gutierrez

Judge to Trump's Visa Freeze: 'Not Your Call to Make' — 75 Countries Just Got Their Shot Back

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Maryland, on July 31, 2026. (Credit: Photo by Aaron Schwartz / AFP via Getty Images)

A federal judge in Manhattan has thrown out a Trump administration order that had halted green-card-track visa processing for people from 75 countries, ruling that the State Department reached well past its legal authority. In a 61-page opinion issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas of the Southern District of New York — appointed to the bench by former President Joe Biden — concluded that the internal directive ordering the freeze could not coexist with the system Congress built for deciding who receives an immigrant visa.

How the Freeze Was Built

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