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A U.S. judge in Oregon on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction blocking a Trump administration proclamation that would require immigrants to show proof of health insurance to get a visa. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon said in a written opinion that the proclamation could not take effect while a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality makes its way through the courts. (Flaccus, 11/26)

Simon noted that the requirement that immigrants buy unsubsidized insurance — meaning they couldn't get financial assistance through Obamacare — barred poor people from entering the country, which he said clearly infringed on the law. "The proclamation is anticipated to affect approximately 60 percent of all immigrant visa applicants," the judge wrote. "The president offers no national security or foreign relations justification for this sweeping change in immigration law." (Luthi, 11/26)

“As the text of Article I and more than two centuries of legislative practice and judicial precedent make clear, the Constitution vests Congress, not the President, with the power to set immigration policy,’’ the judge wrote in a 48-page ruling. Simon also cited the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. Hawaii, which said Congress may delegate certain powers to the president, but the president may not execute those powers in a way that “expressly override (s) particular provisions’’ of the immigration act. (Bernstein, 11/26)

The judge also dismissed the government’s argument that migrants would not suffer irreparable harm because their family members’ visas will only be “delayed,” noting that the proposal could prevent some immigrants from entering the country and thus separating families. (Axelrod, 11/26)