A federal judge in New York has struck down a Trump administration policy that suspended immigrant-visa issuance for nationals of 75 countries, including Bangladesh. In a ruling issued Friday, Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York said the policy was plainly unlawful and conflicted with federal immigration law. The policy had taken effect in January this year.

Judge Vargas said a blanket halt on immigrant visas for citizens of specified countries based on nationality directly violated the existing legal framework. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by immigrant-rights groups Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, visa applicants, and US citizens seeking to bring family members from the affected countries to the United States.

The suspended-visa policy covered countries including Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay in Latin America; Bosnia and Albania in the Balkans; and Pakistan and Bangladesh in South Asia, alongside many countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean. Trump’s administration said its broader immigration-control measures were intended to strengthen domestic security. The US State Department had not commented on the ruling.