Judge orders restart of asylum and benefit processing

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restart processing for asylum applications and other immigration benefits, striking down a series of policies that had placed thousands of immigrants in legal limbo. The ruling, issued Friday by U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island, invalidates measures enacted last year that halted asylum grants and froze decisions on applications from people from 39 countries subject to a presidential travel ban.

The judge found that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) lacked the legal authority to impose a global hold on asylum applications or to indefinitely pause decisions on applications for green cards, citizenship, and work permits based solely on an applicant's country of origin. In a 135-page opinion, McConnell wrote that the policies had left immigrants in "indeterminate legal limbo" and placed "the lives of countless individuals on hold solely by virtue of their countries of birth."

The challenged policies were announced in November, shortly after an Afghan national was arrested in connection with the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. The man, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has...