A United States District Court in Manhattan has nullified the Donald Trump administration’s policy suspending the processing and issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, including Nigeria.

In a ruling delivered on Friday, U.S District Judge, Jeannette Vargas, described the January directive by the State Department as patently unlawful and said it exceeded the statutory authority of Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

The policy, which took effect on January 21, had barred immigrant visa issuance to nationals of 75 countries on the grounds that they posed “a high risk for becoming a public charge” and relying on U.S government cash assistance.

Affected countries are: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

President Donald Trump had early in the year, published a list of welfare dependent rates among immigrants, noting that about 33.3 per cent of Nigeria immigrants households received some form of public assistance.

According to the directive, older or overweight applicants can be denied, along with those who had any past use of government cash assistance or institutionalisation.

But delivering the judgement, Judge Vargas, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, held that the suspension ran afoul of federal immigration law, which expressly removed authority over consular processing of immigrant visas from the Secretary of State.

“The policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme,” she wrote.

The suit was filed by immigrant rights groups, Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, alongside U.S citizens sponsoring family members and visa applicants from the affected countries.

The State Department had, in a cable sent to U.S missions in January directed consular officers to refuse applicants whose visas were “print-authorized” but not yet printed.

It said the suspension was part of a full review to ensure the highest level of screening and vetting and to prevent foreign nationals from exploiting U.S welfare systems.

“Applicants from these countries are at a high risk for becoming a public charge and recourse to local, state and federal government resources in the United States,” the cable stated.

Principal Deputy Spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, had defended the move, saying: “The State Department will use its long-standing authority to deem ineligible potential immigrants who would become a public charge on the United States and exploit the generousity of the American people.

“Immigration from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.”

President Trump has, since returning to office in January, pursued an aggressive immigration crackdown aimed at improving domestic security.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned that releasing some records relating to President Bola Tinubu could endanger the lives or physical safety of individuals, as it seeks permission to privately explain why the documents were withheld.

The FBI made the disclosure in an application filed before the US District Court for the District of Columbia on August 20, asking the court to allow it to submit a confidential declaration explaining its position.

The agency said it could not publicly disclose the full reasons for withholding some of the records because doing so could expose sensitive law-enforcement techniques and procedures.

The FBI is seeking an ex parte, in camera declaration, which would allow it to provide the judge with its explanation privately and under seal.

The records are being sought by Aaron Greenspan, founder of PlainSite, who filed Freedom of Information Act requests for documents relating to Tinubu from 1992 and 1993.

Among the requests is Tinubu’s entire FBI file and interview records connected to an FBI case.

In its application, the FBI said it had invoked several exemptions under the US Freedom of Information Act, including provisions covering personal privacy, confidential sources, law-enforcement techniques and information that could endanger an individual.

The agency said: “The FBI has determined that it cannot provide on the public record the full basis for the application of Exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) to certain withholdings and that, therefore, an ex parte, under seal declaration is necessary.”

The FBI said it would submit the confidential declaration before August 28 if the court grants its request.

The development is the latest step in a prolonged legal dispute over requests for US government records concerning allegations linked to Tinubu and a Chicago drug investigation dating to the early 1990s.

The case began after Greenspan filed multiple FOIA requests with six US federal agencies.

The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies initially refused to confirm or deny whether some of the requested records existed.

However, in April 2025, Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the FBI and DEA had failed to sufficiently justify their refusal to confirm or deny the existence of records concerning Tinubu, ordering the agencies to lift their so-called “Glomar” responses.

The latest application comes as the US Department of Justice continues to respond to court orders concerning the records.

Tinubu’s legal team had also sought additional time to respond, but Judge Howell reportedly declined the request for a 10-day extension.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading at an alarming rate, with more than 2,500 people reportedly killed in the past three months, according to the United Nations’ senior Ebola coordinator, Julien Harneis.

Harneis, who spoke to reporters in Geneva on Friday from Bunia, the epicentre of the outbreak, described the situation as “growing exponentially.”

He said about half of the reported deaths had occurred within the last 20 days, highlighting the rapid deterioration of the outbreak.

“The epidemic is spreading widely. It’s now covering an area that is bigger than France,” Harneis said, warning that the disease was spreading faster and across a wider area than the ongoing response efforts.

The outbreak, which was declared on May 15, is the DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak and is believed to have been circulating for several weeks before it was officially detected.

It has affected areas in the country’s north and east, where weak government presence, limited healthcare infrastructure and the activities of armed groups have complicated efforts to contain the virus.

Harneis called for an urgent increase in resources and personnel, particularly in remote areas of eastern DRC.

He said strengthening the response could help slow transmission and eventually halt the outbreak within months.

However, he warned that failure to scale up the response could lead to more deaths, wider transmission and a risk of the virus spreading to neighbouring countries.

The latest outbreak is already the largest in the country’s history and, according to Harneis, is spreading faster than any Ebola outbreak recorded previously.