Judge Enjoins USCIS Policy Indefinitely Pausing Immigration Benefit Applications

U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley, in the Southern District of Ohio, granted a preliminary injunction on July 6, 2026, in a suit brought by 25 foreign nationals whose green card, work authorization and travel document applications had been held by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Marbley found that the challenged policies "indefinitely pause USCIS's final adjudication of pending immigration benefit applications submitted by foreign nationals from certain countries" and treat nationality from those countries as a "significant and negative factor" in adjudication. He ordered the agency to resume processing the plaintiffs' Form I-485 and I-131 applications, to decide their pending I-765 work authorization applications within 30 days, and to file a compliance report in the same period.

The ruling draws a line between excluding people at the border, where executive authority is broadest, and freezing the files of people already lawfully present in the United States. Marbley wrote that the government "fail[ed] to explain how a delay of a decision on pending immigration benefit applications for foreign nationals already within the United States could ameliorate any public safety or national security concern," and that national security cannot be "a talisman used to ward off inconvenient claims."

The decision is preliminary and applies to the named plaintiffs. It follows a Rhode Island ruling in June that struck down four related USCIS policies. The administration has defended the pauses as necessary vetting and is expected to appeal.