India, Aug. 26 -- A federal court in New York has invalidated the Trump administration's sweeping directive suspending the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from seventy-five countries, dealing a sharp legal blow to executive immigration restrictions.

US District Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled that the policy, implemented earlier in the year by the State Department under the direction of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was "contrary to law and in excess of statutory authority". The judicial intervention arrives following a coordinated legal challenge brought by nonprofit advocacy organisations and affected families who argued that the blanket moratorium unfairly penalised applicants based purely on their nationality while ignoring ...