In a major First-Amendment victory for civic organisations—and a procedural rebuke to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services—U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton on 15 October issued a final order that strikes down USCIS’ 2025 policy prohibiting third-party groups from offering voter-registration services immediately after administrative naturalization ceremonies. The lawsuit, filed by the League of Women Voters and six state affiliates, argued that USCIS’ sudden policy shift violated the Administrative Procedure Act because the agency skipped notice-and-comment rule-making and failed to justify the ban. Judge Walton agreed, making permanent a preliminary injunction he had granted in August. The ruling restores a decades-long practice that had allowed non-partisan groups to help some 120,000 new citizens register to vote each year. From a mobility standpoint, the decision removes uncertainty for corporate expatriates who naturalize after long-term U.S. assignments. Newly minted citizens will once again encounter voter-registration assistance on-site, streamlining compliance with state election-law deadlines. The order also prevents uneven practices among USCIS field offices, many of which had quietly allowed registration to resume pending the litigation’s outcome. USCIS could appeal, but constitutional scholars doubt the agency will succeed given the procedural nature of the violation. In the meantime, HR staff preparing employees for naturalization ceremonies should inform them that outside civic groups may again be present and may offer state-specific voter-registration forms on the spot. The case underscores a broader trend: federal courts are scrutinising immigration-agency policy changes that bypass formal rule-making, creating an additional layer of legal risk for employers that rely on predictable adjudication environments.
Source: Campaign Legal Center
