State Department Slams Latest Instance of Leftist ‘Judicial Overreach’

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The State Department is condemning a Biden-appointed federal judge’s ruling barring the Trump administration from using the president’s latest travel ban to deny visas to foreigners from certain countries.

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a 2024 appointee of then-President Joe Biden, ruled Thursday that the State Department cannot rely on the 19-country ban to refuse to process applications for winners of the Diversity Visa lottery who would lose their visas if not issued by the end of September.

“Another example of wrongful judicial overreach aimed at curtailing this Administration’s strong and unwavering efforts to keep Americans and our communities safe,” Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesman for the State Department, told The Daily Signal.

Sooknanan’s ruling still allows immigration authorities to deny the foreign citizens entry to the U.S. by turning them away at a port of entry or instructing airline officials in those countries to refuse to board them.

“We will continue to relentlessly work to ensure the president of the United States is able to use every tool he has available, including visas, to finally bring oversight to who we allow to visit our country,” Piggot said.

The travel ban fully restricts people from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen from entering the United States. It also partially restricts U.S. entry for citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

The Trump administration’s lawyers asked Sooknanan to accept the “long-standing practice” of the State Department refusing visas to people whose entry would be blocked by a presidential order.

In response, the judge cited a Supreme Court decision from last summer that limited the power of agencies to rely on their own interpretations of the law.

This is the latest example of federal judges blocking the president’s agenda. Judges have blocked Trump’s orders on diversity, equity, and inclusion; releasing the Epstein files; defunding Planned Parenthood; ending birthright citizenship; and more.

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