Judge blocks rule cutting refugees' time to contest loss of status to 10 days
Editorial illustration — Press Pass USAA federal judge in Boston on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from implementing a new rule that would cut the time refugees have to contest decisions stripping them of their legal status from 30 days to 10 days.
U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick issued an order that puts the rule on hold through November 6. The rule was issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on October 14, and refugee advocacy groups challenged it in a lawsuit filed Monday that also contests a broader plan to review refugees' status.
Kobick said the rule should be put on hold to preserve the status quo until the case can be heard by a colleague. Erez Reuveni of Democracy Forward, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the decision “provides meaningful protection for people who were already facing termination notices.”
A USCIS spokesperson called the lawsuit a “frivolous attempt to disrupt the Trump administration's commitment to enforce our country's immigration laws as intended by Congress.” The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, had estimated the new rule would affect as many as 186,000 refugees.
The hold is temporary: it preserves the current 30-day window while the challenge moves forward, and it does not decide the rule's ultimate legality.
Sources: Reuters (Oct 27, 2026); U.S. District Court order, District of Massachusetts (Oct 27, 2026).
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