Court Enjoins USCIS Hold Policies for Applicants From 39 Proclamation Countries

On Aug. 24, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California certified a class and preliminarily enjoined two USCIS policy memoranda — PM 602-0192 and PM 602-0194 — in Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Edlow, No. 26-cv-04850-CRB. Those memos had directed USCIS to place certain applications on hold rather than decide them. The certified class covers citizens or nationals of the 39 countries named in Presidential Proclamations 10949 and 10998, and of the Palestinian Authority, who have a pending Form I-589 asylum application or another benefit application that was subject to those holds and has not yet received a final decision. USCIS acknowledged the order in an alert dated Aug. 28, 2026, stating that it "is ordered to adjudicate applications in the normal course of USCIS' process." Two limits matter: this is a preliminary injunction, not a final judgment, so it can still be appealed or modified, and it reaches the hold policies only — the underlying proclamations remain in place. If you are from one of the covered countries and your application has been sitting without a decision, this may be the reason, and it may now begin moving again. Ask us to review where your case actually stands.