A federal judge in New York has overturned this Friday the visa ban promoted by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, which affected citizens of 75 countries, concluding that the measure is "contrary to legality" and exceeds the powers of the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
Judge Jeannette Vargas, of the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, has rejected the arguments presented by the Department of State and has ordered the reversal of all visa denials based solely on this directive from the Trump Administration.
In her ruling, Vargas recalls that the current regulations only authorize the denial of a visa when the applicant can be considered a "public charge" for the country, an assessment that must be made on a case-by-case basis and taking into account factors such as age, health status, or economic and family situation.
However, the judge concludes that, in practice, consular officials were instructed to reject applications based exclusively on the country of origin, without analyzing whether the applicants met the conditions required by law.
According to the file accessed by the CNN network, the Secretary of State ordered officials to deny visas even when an applicant "provided additional evidence demonstrating that they exceeded the objection of being considered a public charge."
"The outcome was predetermined. The visa would be denied," Vargas wrote in the file.
The ruling holds that the order violated the legislation of 1965, which prohibits discrimination by nationality in the granting of visas, and also encroached upon the exclusive competencies of the officials responsible for resolving each case without pressure from the Department of State.
Nevertheless, the court decision maintains in effect the denials based on other legal grounds, so the exact volume of visas that must be reviewed remains unclear.
The annulled policy mainly affected 75 non-European countries from regions such as the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, including key Washington allies such as Jordan, Egypt, or Georgia.