Washington, D.C — As the Trump-Vance administration’s suspension on immigrant visa processing of people from 75 countries is set to go into effect, leaders with the National Immigration Law Center, Democracy Forward, and the Western Center on Law & Poverty decried the move as an unprecedented action that will separate families, undermine U.S. economic interests, and unlawfully restrict long‑standing pathways to lawful immigration. The Trump-Vance administration cited “public charge” risk as its stated justification for the suspension.
“This administration’s targeting of people based on their national origin is part of an autocratic playbook designed to make America smaller – to shut out ideas, perspectives, and communities. This latest halt on immigrant visas from 75 countries is yet another attempt to rewrite our nation’s history – a nation that is a land of immigrants – and undercut our cherished values while closing us off from the world. Over the past year, more than 600 lawsuits have been filed against the harmful lawlessness of the Trump-Vance administration’s agenda – and the administration loses far more than it wins. We will again file suit to challenge this harmful and arbitrary policy that turns its back on the Statue of Liberty and, worse, people and communities,” said Skye Perryman, President & CEO of Democracy Forward.
Joanna Cuevas Ingram, senior staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, said: “This unprecedented and illegal halt on immigrant visas from 75 countries slams the door on people who have done everything the United States has asked of them to come here. The Trump administration is using this blanket visa suspension as a ban and a false pretense to further spread a hateful narrative that demonizes immigrants and people of color. The ban tears families apart, undermines employers, and destabilizes communities. We know immigrants enrich our communities, and we are prepared to challenge this discriminatory ban and defend the rights of immigrant families with everything we have.”
Western Center on Law & Poverty’s Executive Director Cori Racela denounces the Trump Administration’s expansion of the “public charge” designation as unlawful discrimination. “Claiming that immigrants from these nations disproportionately rely on public benefits is a pretext rooted in racist stereotypes. In fact, immigrant families are less likely to access public assistance and more likely to work and pay taxes to a system from which they often draw no benefits at all. We reject the baseless presumption that people from 75 countries are necessarily a ‘public charge’ or a burden. We are ready to We are ready to fight for these families against this unlawful discrimination and the Administration’s racist agenda.”
