A federal court has struck down the Trump administration’s controversial policy that froze Green Card processing for applicants from 75 countries, in a ruling delivered by Indian-American Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

What the Ruling Says

On July 31, 2026, Judge Amit Mehta held that the State Department’s “public charge” immigrant visa freeze was unlawful because it exercised an authority that Congress had specifically denied the executive branch under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The policy, introduced under Secretary of State Marco Rubio and adopted in January 2026, was built on the premise that applicants from 75 countries could become dependent on public benefits once in the United States.

In practice, the ban of green card had blocked mostly family-based immigrant visa applicants, along with some employment-based Green Card seekers, from countries including Nigeria, Colombia, Russia, and Egypt.

The case, De Moura Gomes v. Rubio (D.D.C., No. 1:26-cv-01883), was one of several lawsuits filed in New York and Washington, DC challenging the policy.

Why the Court Found Is Green card illegal

At the heart of Judge Mehta’s decision is a separation-of-powers argument. Under existing immigration law, Congress gave individual consular officers the authority to make case-by-case visa determinations. Critics of the policy argued that the State Department’s blanket freeze effectively predetermined outcomes for entire nationalities, stripping consular officers of the individualized judgment the law requires. The plaintiffs welcomed the ruling, saying the court recognized that the government “cannot require individualized review and then dictate refusal regardless of the result.”

A State Department spokesperson responded that the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation, but maintained that the administration is committed to “upholding the highest standards of screening and vetting of visa applicants.”

A Separate but Related Policy Push

While this ruling addresses the State Department’s visa freeze, it’s worth noting that the Department of Homeland Security has simultaneously tightened its own public charge regulations, finalized just last month. So even as courts push back on one arm of the immigration crackdown, another remains firmly in place meaning the broader legal and policy battle over “public charge” rules is far from over.

This ruling is also distinct from other recent immigration court battles, including a separate case in Rhode Island where a judge invalidated USCIS policies that had delayed asylum, Green Card, and citizenship decisions for applicants from 39 travel-ban countries.

What This Means for Indian Applicants

India is not among the 75 countries covered by the freeze, but the policy has had an indirect impact on Indian Green Card hopefuls. Because unused family-sponsored visa numbers roll over into employment-based (EB) categories the following fiscal year, immigration attorneys had projected that tens of thousands of unused family-based Green Cards from the affected countries could boost EB-2 and EB-3 quotas for Indian applicants in FY2027 a dynamic similar to what happened during the pandemic-era visa backlog.

With the freeze now ruled unlawful, that potential rollover benefit may shrink if visa processing for the 75 countries resumes at normal pace. However, since the ruling is likely to be appealed, the practical effect on visa numbers may take time to materialize.

What Happens Next

The State Department has not indicated whether it will appeal Judge Mehta’s ruling. Given the pattern of repeated legal challenges to similar immigration restrictions throughout 2026, further litigation and possible appeals to higher courts are likely. Applicants from the affected 75 countries, as well as immigration attorneys tracking downstream effects on Indian EB categories, will be watching closely for the administration’s next move.

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