On July 6, 2026, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley, a Clinton appointee in Columbus, Ohio, issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Trump administration to stop indefinitely freezing work-authorization and green-card applications from nationals of a set of countries including Burma, Iran, Nigeria, Syria, Tanzania, and Venezuela.
What sets the ruling apart is that Marbley grounded it in a finding of discriminatory intent, quoting Trump and Vice President JD Vance directly. “This general hostility to immigration,” he wrote, “contrasts with an apparent interest in and preference for the migration of white people. Aside from a stated desire for more Scandinavian immigration, President Trump has sought to welcome white South Africans.” The judge cited Trump's references to “shithole countries” and his claim that Haitians are “poisoning the blood” of the country, and noted that the administration's “ire appears focused on immigrants from countries in the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Asia.”
Marbley also quoted Vance saying, “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do,” a reference to the debunked claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. The court concluded that the freeze reflected discrimination based on protected characteristics and ordered the paused applications processed.