By Ananya Swaroop
Boston University News Service
In another bold attempt to expand immigration restrictions in the United States, the Trump administration recently announced an indefinite ban on visa processing for people from 75 countries. The freeze, which took effect on Jan. 21, enraged U.S. citizens — many of whom are now suing the administration for sanctioning a policy that attempts to “eviscerate decades of settled immigration law.”
The complaint was filed by the citizens and a group of civil rights organizations in a Manhattan federal court on Jan. 26. The plaintiffs argue that the new nationality-based visa policies are stripping legal immigrants of the rights that are guaranteed to them by law under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
They further said that the United States Department of State has imposed a ban based on an “unsupported and demonstrably” false claim that citizens from these countries migrate to the U.S. “to improperly rely on cash welfare and are likely to become public charges.” Whereas several immigrants are still not eligible for cash welfare and remain ineligible for years, according to the law.
“This case seeks to preserve what Congress intended: an individualized immigration system that honors the INA’s statutory commitment to family unity and bars the Executive from rewriting immigration law by fiat,” the complaint further states.
The DOS is yet to take any steps in this matter, but on a post to social media, the department said the ban will “remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.”
An interesting thing to note here is the fact that the 75 countries mentioned in this list are “majorly non-white and are outside Europe”, NPR points out. The list includes countries like Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde and Ghana.
The ban comes after full or partial travel and visa restrictions that were imposed on citizens from 39 countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal in December 2025.
The lawsuit is not the first of its kind. The New York Times notes that the Trump administration has been sued over 650 times. More than 350 cases were in favour of the administration, where the courts allowed Trump’s policies stay in effect. For over 150 cases, the court partially halted the policies. The Supreme Court took action in 28 cases, while there are four cases that still need to be taken a look at.
The Trump administration is also taking actions to dramatically expand its effort to revoke U.S. citizenship for foreign-born Americans. NBC News talked to people familiar with the plan, who revealed that the administration’s goal is to emphasize “naturalized citizens.” To do that, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has been supplying 100 to 200 possible cases per month to the Office of Immigration Litigation.
Trump has often voiced his anti-immigrant demagoguery. In a post posted to Truth Social in November 2025, the president wrote, “Only reverse migration can fully cure this situation. Other than that, happy Thanksgiving to all except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!” The citizens now wait to see what his next steps will be.
