A federal judge on Thursday ruled that policies that make it harder for ‌people from countries on President Donald Trump’s travel ban list to get green cards and work permits are discriminatory and unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston reached that conclusion as she issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit by around ​200 people from 20 countries including Iran, Haiti, Venezuela and Syria who sued over a halt ​on the processing of their immigration-related applications, Reuters reported.

The lawsuit, filed in December, took aim at ⁠policies U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services adopted beginning in November affecting applications by immigrants seeking asylum, green ​cards and work authorization.

Those policies have resulted in the agency placing a hold on the processing of applications ​from people from the 39 countries that are the subject of full or partial travel bans imposed by Trump, who has cited vetting and security concerns.

Before instituting that halt, the agency, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, adopted ​a policy in November 2025 that treats the nationality of people from those countries as a “significant negative ​factor” when reviewing their applications.

Kobick, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, concluded the plaintiffs were likely to succeed ‌in proving ⁠that policy ran afoul of the Immigration and Nationality Act’s bar against nationality-based discrimination.

The judge said the agency’s subsequent halt on reviewing asylum and naturalization applications was likewise “contrary to Congress’s command that the agency issue decisions on such applications.” She said the pause on reviewing green card and work authorization applications violated regulations ​governing them.

Kobick blocked USCIS from ​enforcing the policies against ⁠22 plaintiffs who had provided declarations detailing how they were harmed by them, and she directed the parties to discuss whether her order should apply to the ​rest of the 200.

Jim Hacking, ​a lawyer ⁠for the plaintiffs, welcomed the ruling, which he said appeared to be the first by a judge nationally to address the “significant negative factor” policy alongside the separate but related hold on the processing of applications. A handful ⁠of other ​judges have previously ruled against that halt in some migrants’ cases.

“USCIS ​wants to make it harder for people to receive an immigration benefit if they are from one of the 39 countries, even ​though Congress has never allowed them to,” he said.

A new charity, the Rahmanullah Gurbaz Welfare Foundation, has been officially inaugurated in Kabul. The initiative was established by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, a member of Afghanistan’s national cricket team.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Gurbaz said the foundation aims to expand access to education and healthcare services while also creating employment opportunities for Afghans. He stressed that meaningful progress in the country depends on collective effort and shared responsibility.

“The core purpose of this foundation is to promote education,” he said. “An educated person is enlightened, while someone deprived of education is like a person without sight.”

Participants at the event also underscored the importance of investing in education as a pathway to national development. Mujib-ur-Rahman Baheer, head of Ariana News, welcomed the initiative and called for greater focus on learning and academic advancement across the country.

Meanwhile, Ahmadullah Wasiq, head of the General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports, emphasized that such initiatives must be genuine and transparent, warning that they should not serve symbolic purposes or personal interests but instead deliver real benefits to the public.

The launch comes at a time when Afghanistan continues to grapple with economic hardship and overlapping crises, including poverty, natural disasters, and the return of migrants—factors that have significantly increased the need for sustained humanitarian support.