The Trump administration faced twin legal defeats on Monday over its immigration agenda, as a federal judge blocked new visa time limits for international students and journalists, while a broad coalition of states filed suit to challenge rules that would make it harder for immigrants to obtain green cards.
US District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV, sitting in Boston and appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, halted a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulation that had been scheduled to take effect on Tuesday. The rule would have ended the longstanding "duration of status" system — under which foreign students and exchange visitors could remain in the country for the length of their programme without a fixed departure date — replacing it with capped admission periods. Under the proposed limits, F visas for international students and J visas for cultural exchange participants would have been capped at four years, while I visas for foreign journalists, which can currently last indefinitely, would have been restricted to 240 days. Saylor, granting an injunction requested by a coalition of trade unions and higher education advocacy groups, described the DHS's national security and anti-fraud justifications as "exceptionally weak." He warned that the impact on American higher education and the broader economy would be "catastrophic," noting that the existing system had enabled tens of millions of scholars to contribute to landmark research in science, medicine, and technology. The rule would have affected roughly 1.6 million F-visa holders and around 500,000 J-visa participants.
Separately, two lawsuits were filed in a Manhattan federal court seeking to block a DHS regulation due to take effect on Friday that would expand the so-called "public charge" rule — a longstanding legal standard used to deny green cards to immigrants deemed likely to become primarily dependent on the government. New York, California, and Illinois are leading a coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia, with a parallel suit brought by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and several counties. Under the Biden administration, immigration officers could consider cash assistance when evaluating applicants but were barred from penalising use of non-cash support such as food stamps and Medicaid. The Trump administration seeks to revive and expand a policy from its first term, treating non-cash benefits as disqualifying factors and extending scrutiny to benefits received by an applicant's family members. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the states' lawsuit, said that "working families should not be forced to give up the support they need out of fear that seeking assistance will result in their deportation." A DHS spokesperson defended the regulation, describing its opponents as "left-wing leaders" trying to protect access to welfare for "noncitizens."
The lawsuits argue that the administration bypassed Congress, which holds sole authority to set criteria for permanent residency, and that penalising the lawful use of non-cash assistance contradicts existing federal statutes. Advocates warn the rule could deter immigrant families from accessing programmes even on behalf of their American-born children who are legally entitled to food assistance, housing support, and healthcare. Both sets of legal challenges reflect a widening judicial and political battle over the boundaries of executive authority in shaping US immigration law.