Boston, Massachusetts – A U.S. federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from enforcing new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services rules that could revoke work permits from tens of thousands of asylum seekers and immigrants living in the country under Temporary Protected Status. The order, signed by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, halts a series of restrictive USCIS policies that were scheduled to take effect as early as Wednesday, July 22, 2026, and that were designed to implement strict immigration laws passed by Congress last year. The legal challenge was brought by a coalition of immigrant rights organizations and labor unions represented by the advocacy group Democracy Forward. The lawsuit targeted, among other measures, a new rule allowing USCIS to reject pending asylum applications and immediately revoke existing work permits if applicants failed to pay a newly created annual asylum fee, as well as the elimination of a decades-old requirement that USCIS process initial asylum-related work permit applications within 30 days. In his five-page ruling, Judge Gorton wrote that allowing the policies to take effect now would cause irreparable harm to thousands of families who depend on these work permits for their livelihoods, and he ordered the restrictions paused while the court considers a longer-term preliminary injunction.

Prepared by Lauren Mitchell and reviewed by editorial team.