A federal judge has struck down several Trump administration immigration policies that halted the processing of asylum and other applications for people from dozens of countries, ruling the measures both unlawful and discriminatory, as first reported by LittleAfrica News.

Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. ruled on Friday, June 5, that the policies improperly blocked applicants from 39 countries from getting decisions on asylum requests, work permits, green cards and citizenship applications. His order requires the federal government to resume processing those applications. Thousands of people whose cases had sat frozen for months can now get decisions. The ruling reaches pending immigration cases nationwide.

McConnell found that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that handles legal immigration paperwork, exceeded its legal authority and failed to follow established immigration laws and procedures. He rejected the administration’s national security justification, writing that the policies lacked a legal basis and appeared to be driven by hostility toward immigrants rather than legitimate security concerns.