Rhode Island District Judge Alison McConnell on 12 June blasted the administration for failing to restart asylum and other immigration adjudications that had been paused for citizens of 39 travel-ban countries. In an emergency hearing she warned officials there was “no excuse” for ignoring her 5 June injunction and set a 48-hour deadline to fully comply. Hours later USCIS announced it would resume processing suspended applications and issue receipt notices retroactive to the original filing dates. The agency also said it will prioritize long-stalled employment authorization and advance-parole requests, critical for applicants who have been unable to work or travel for nearly six months. While corporate mobility programs seldom sponsor asylum cases, the ruling matters because it frees adjudicators to return to employment-based petitions that had been reallocated to handle litigation tasks. Immigration lawyers expect a short-term uptick in USCIS workloads but note that added overtime funds in the newly passed DHS budget should mitigate knock-on delays. The decision also reinforces judicial skepticism of sweeping executive suspensions of immigration benefits—signaling that future policy shifts affecting business visas may face closer scrutiny in federal court.
Source: Washington Post
