An American judge on Friday overturned the Trump administration’s policy for suspending the issuance of immigration visas for applicants from 75 countries, and said that the policy exceeded the legal authority of Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state.

Jannette Vargas, a judge at an American federal district court in Manhattan, said the policy that the U.S. State Department announced in January is “clearly unlawful” and conflicts with federal immigration law; a law that explicitly removes from the secretary of state the power to review consular officers’ handling of immigration visas.

She wrote: “This policy, which absolutely prohibits the issuance of immigration visas solely on the basis of an applicant’s nationality, constitutes a direct violation of this legal framework.”

The suspension implemented by the U.S. State Department, which was also carried out in January, affected applicants from Latin American countries including Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay, countries in the Balkans such as Bosnia and Albania, South Asian countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as applicants from many countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.