Article I: Abuse of Judicial Discretion, Dereliction of Duty, and Endangerment of Public Safety

John McConnell, Jr., Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, has engaged in conduct incompatible with the trust and confidence placed in him as a judicial officer, as follows:(1)On June 5, 2026, in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island et al., v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services et al., Judge McConnell, Jr. issued an order vacating a policy framework (Challenged Policies) adopted by U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which paused all asylum applications and pending immigration benefit requests, required a substantive review of already approved immigration benefit requests, and ordered USCIS to treat country-specific factors in discretionary immigration benefit decisions. These policies were designed to ensure that persons from high-risk countries who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021, do not present threats to national security or public safety. In his decision to vacate the Challenged Policies framework, Judge McConnell, Jr. disregarded the incidents that necessitated the USCIS Challenged Policies framework. This includes the June 2025 guilty plea of an Afghan national, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, for conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS for a planned terrorist attack in the United States on the day of the general election for President and Vice-President in November of 2024, as well as the November 2025 terrorist attack against two National Guard members in Washington, DC, by an Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal.(2)In his ruling, Judge McConnell, Jr. dismissed the executive branch’s national-security justification as pretextual, and such actions are forbidden from influencing the decision-making process of USCIS. Judge McConnell, Jr.’s ruling placed the interests of noncitizens seeking immigration benefits above the national security of the United States and interferes with the executive branch’s ability to adequately, properly, and fully mitigate any and all national security risks associated with the entrance of persons originating from certain countries lacking sufficient vetting protocols and accountability safeguards. By mandating that USCIS resume the processing of immigration benefits and dismissing national security justifications for a pause in processing, it is evident that Judge McConnell, Jr., has committed an egregious dereliction of duty by permitting his own political hostility towards the executive branch’s immigration policies to override the neutral application of law.(3)In taking this action, Judge McConnell, Jr. marginalized core public safety and national security considerations and thereby contributed to an environment of impunity for terrorism, the endangerment of public safety, and eroding of the national security of the United States. This pattern is inconsistent with the duty of impartial fidelity to law and to the safety of the people, and it undermines respect for the rule of law at a time of elevated public concern about terrorism and national security.