Federal court vacates USCIS policies pausing adjudications and mandating re-reviews of approvals

US court vacates multiple USCIS policies affecting adjudication of immigration benefits nationwide.

On 5 June 2026, the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island in the case of Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, et al v. USCIS, et al, vacated four US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policies imposed through a set of policy memoranda. The Court ruled the following USCIS policies unlawful:

• The Benefits Hold Policy, which paused adjudication of immigration benefits filed by and on behalf of individuals from certain countries
• The Global Asylum Hold Policy, which paused adjudication of immigration benefits for asylum-related applications nationwide
• The Comprehensive Re-Review Policy, which required additional review or re-review of cases for applicants from certain countries
• The Country-Specific Factors Policy, which allowed USCIS to treat applicants’ countries of origin as a negative discretionary factor in the adjudication process

Summary

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