Caribbean advocates hail court rejection of Trump’s ‘unlawful’ immigration restrictions

Caribbean immigration advocates in New York on Monday, June 8, welcomed a ruling by a federal district court judge in Rhode Island striking down President Donald J. Trump’s “unlawful” immigration restrictions.

The policies enacted by Trump includes measures that halted asylum applications and paused the decisions of immigration applications, work permits, green cards, and citizenship applications for nationals from 39 countries, primarily from Africa and the Caribbean, subject to the administration’s travel ban.

In his ruling on Friday, Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. found that the Trump administration’s actions effectively made it impossible for Caribbean and other immigrants eligible for asylum to remain in the United States and violated “the immigration laws governing the responsibilities of US Citizenship and Immigration Services.” 

Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights in New York State, told Caribbean Life that “every person seeking safety, stability and opportunity deserves a fair chance to have their case heard under the law.”

He said Judge McConnell “reaffirmed what we already knew: that the Trump administration violated the law, and did so with anti-immigrant malice. 

“By shutting down access to asylum and preventing thousands of immigrants from receiving a decision on their immigration applications solely on the basis of which country they come from, the Trump administration acted against statute and against the rule of law,” Awawdeh said. 

“Their unlawful actions left thousands of families in limbo, cut people from life-saving protections, and undermined the rule of law by attempting to bypass the immigration system established by Congress,” he added. “We applaud Judge McConnell’s ruling, which renews faith in our legal system as fair and accountable.”

But Awawdeh said while the judge’s decision restores “critical pathways for many, Congress must continue fighting for policies that uphold due process, protect immigrant families, and ensure every individual is treated with fairness under the law.”  

Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, a legal nonprofit organization that helped represent several immigration groups and labor unions filing the lawsuit against the Trump administration, said Judge McConnell’s ruling “reaffirms a basic principle: The federal government cannot shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on where they come from.

“These unlawful policies caused enormous harm to families, workers, asylum seekers and communities across the country,” he said. 

Judge McConnell wrote that in view of Trump’s immigration policies “many of those individuals remain without work, without legal status and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures. 

“The court is reminded of a line often repeated in discussions around immigration policy: If people wish to immigrate to the United States, they ought to ‘follow the law’ and ‘do things the right way,’” he wrote. “This case serves as a perfect example of immigrants doing just that.” 

Meantime, on Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of attorneys general won a lawsuit against the Trump administration for imposing an “illegal $100,000 fee” on all new applicants for H-1B visas, a critical program that allows highly-trained immigrants to temporarily work in the United States. 

James said H-1B recipients fill essential roles in health care, education, technology, and other fields, “contributing significantly to their states’ economies and filling critical shortages of essential workers, particularly in health care.”

The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled in favor of James and a coalition of 19 other attorneys general that sued the administration for imposing a $100,000 fee on all new H-1B applications, a massive increase over the visa’s typical fees. 

The court granted the coalition’s motion for summary judgment, declaring the policy implementing the fee unlawful. 

“Every day, thousands of people with H-1B visas serve New Yorkers as doctors, teachers, and other skilled workers,” said Attorney General James. “Today, a court put an end to this administration’s illegal attempt to destroy this critical program and the many jobs it makes possible. 

“Workers with these visas contribute immensely to our state, and I will keep fighting to stop this administration’s unjust and unlawful attacks on our immigrant communities,” she vowed. 

The New York attorney general said the H-1B program allows employers to petition to hire workers in a “specialty occupation” for a maximum of six years.

She said H-1B workers are employed in a variety of fields in both the public and private sectors, and that the program plays “a crucial role” in filling labor shortages in medicine, education, and other highly skilled industries. 

Attorney General James and the coalition argued in their lawsuit that limiting H-1B visas will cause significant harm and worsen labor shortages in critical industries.  

In New York, James said the State University of New York (SUNY) employs 693 employees on H-1B visas, including many who serve students in rural and suburban areas of New York state.

She said New York’s hospitals already face a “pervasive nursing shortage,” and that a reduction in H-1B visa holders would only “exacerbate this challenge, as over a third of all health care workers in New York are immigrants.”

James said other critical industries in New York, such as technology, finance, and the arts, also rely on H-1B visa holders to fill essential roles. 

Across the state, more than 13,000 people on H-1B visas work in these sectors, she said. 

The New York Attorney General said while H-1B visa fees have historically been just several thousand dollars, the Trump administration suddenly announced in September 2025 that a $100,000 fee would be imposed on all new H-1B applications. 

In December 2025, Attorney General James and the coalition sued the administration to stop the fee from being implemented. 

The court on Monday granted the coalition’s motion for summary judgment, declaring the fee unlawful and vacating the policy implementing it.  

Joining Attorney General James in filing the lawsuit were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.