Judge rules against visa delays for Iraqi and Afghani military translaters

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration violated the law by failing to promptly resolve visa applications for thousands of Afghans and Iraqis who worked for American troops and diplomats, and ordered the government to fix the delays.

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan of Washington, D.C., said the government offered no convincing explanation why it has failed to abide by 2013 legislation requiring authorities to deliver a decision on visa applications for Afghans and Iraqis within nine months. Instead, many applicants — who risked their lives working for U.S. troops or other government agencies — have had to wait for several years to get an answer on their visa requests, the court said in the ruling handed down on Friday.

“This ruling could finally bring relief to these men and women and their families who have been waiting in fear for far too long,” said Deepa Alagesan of the International Refugee Assistance Project in an NBC news article, one of the lawyers who argued the case.