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The U.S. State Department will stop issuing immigrant visas for 75 countries for an undetermined time beginning Jan. 21. The suspension applies to U.S. immigrant visas for foreigners seeking to live in the U.S., but it does not impact short-term visa applications for students or tourists, including soccer fans wishing to travel to the U.S. for the FIFA World Cup 2026, according to the department. Local immigration attorney Haim Vasquez represents people across the state of Texas seeking immigrant and non-immigrant visas and spoke with NBC 5 about the impact on those seeking to live in the U.S. and those only wanting to visit. “We are talking about people who have been ‘in the line,’” said Vasquez about the 75 countries impacted by the suspension. “This is only for the people who are outside the United States who are applying to get that Green Card granted at the consulate and who might have been waiting for over a decade in many cases to obtain the Green Cards. This does not have anything to do with immigration issues at the border or people who don’t have immigration status inside the U.S.” People living in the following countries are impacted by the suspension of immigrant visa applications: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen. According to the State Department, “The State Department will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people. The pause impacts dozens of countries – including Somalia, Haiti, Iran, and Eritrea – whose immigrants often become public charges on the United States upon arrival. We are working to ensure the generosity of the American people will no longer be abused.” Vasquez questions what data the government used to compile and justify the countries on the list. “When somebody’s a resident, they have to have a financial sponsor, and even if they were going to use public benefits that they do not qualify, the government can go after that sponsor,” he said. The crackdown on legal immigration comes as the State Department shared another cordial invitation to the world on Sunday. “America is excited to welcome the world for the 2026 World Cup,” said Andrew Giuliani in a video posted on the agency’s X account. Giuliani toured AT&T Stadium last month ahead of the World Cup tournament. When asked about restrictions on immigration from certain countries, Giuliani said, “There’s no effect on B1, B2 Visas, which is what the fans will be coming here on. If anything, actually, we’ll probably reduce some of the wait times for them.” Dallas Stadium, aka AT&T Stadium, will host nine matches, including the reigning champion Argentina. Giuliani said World Cup ticket holders in general will have their travel visa applications prioritized. Visa wait times for Argentinians and Brazilians, for example, are being significantly reduced from one year to two months or less, he said. Appointments under the FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling System (PASS) will become available for ticket holders in early 2026. Visitors from the 42 Countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program can apply…

Max Christie scored a season-high 26 points, Cooper Flagg had 18 in his first pro game at Madison Square Garden and the Dallas Mavericks rolled to a 114-97 victory Monday over the New York Knicks, who were booed frequently in the first half while falling behind by 30. The Knicks lost their fourth straight and ninth in 11 games, even with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart back from ankle injuries to return them to full strength. The Mavericks, meanwhile, are missing numerous injured players but the ones who did suit up ran the Knicks off the floor in the first half to win their third straight game. Flagg had missed the previous two, both victories over Utah, with a sprained left ankle. The No. 1 pick also had seven rebounds, while Naji Marshall scored 18 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points and 18 rebounds for the Knicks, and Brunson also had 22 points. Mitchell Robinson had 12 points and 15 rebounds. The Knicks won the NBA Cup in December and were 23-9 entering their final game of the month. They have fallen to 25-18 and entered play Monday in third place in the East in coach Mike Brown’s first season. The Mavericks raced to a 16-4 lead that New York cut to 31-22 after one quarter despite missing all nine 3-point attempts. Flagg scored the Mavericks’ first seven points of the second quarter, and a 13-0 run gave Dallas a 51-31 lead. Towns then scored five straight, but on the next possession was called for a flagrant foul for kicking Dwight Powell in the groin area while attempting a shot. Marshall later scored nine straight points to make it 72-43 before Christie’s 3 made it a 30-point blowout. The boos began during the onslaught in the second and rang out once more as the Knicks walked to the locker rooms down 75-47. Up next Mavericks: Host Golden State on Thursday. Knicks: Host Brooklyn on Wednesday. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued legal guidance on Monday morning, declaring many diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in public and private spaces unconstitutional. For several years, Republican state lawmakers have pushed to phase out diversity programs in state government. Now, the private sphere may be next. On Monday, people attending the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade celebrated gains made after the Civil Rights Movement, such as affirmative action and diversity recruitment and hiring efforts. “You have people who don’t know the whole background story to that. So why take it away? That’s something we need,” said Gregory Harrington in an interview at the parade. “It helped with education. It educated our people more,” said Jeanine Robinson. Also on Monday morning, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton laid out a 74-page memo arguing that those very programs were unconstitutional and constituted race-based discrimination. It supported Governor Greg Abbott’s earlier efforts to end the practice of boosting contracts to Black, Hispanic, and women-owned businesses through the Historically Underutilized Business Program. “There is a prohibition in the Constitution to discriminate on the basis of race or sex. And that doesn’t mean that if you’re Black or Hispanic or a woman or a man or white or whatever, you’re going to be denied access,” said Gov. Abbott in an earlier interview with NBC DFW. But Paxton also went further, stating that race-based hiring, promotion, mentoring, and training programs may also violate state and federal law. He wrote: “The race- and sex-based public sector preferences discussed in this opinion cannot survive strict scrutiny and are therefore unconstitutional. Furthermore, a large body of DEI practices in the private sector triggers liability…” “The opinion also poses a real threat to the corporate community by inviting lawsuits and unwarranted hostility toward institutions that have attempted, however imperfectly, to broaden opportunity in workplaces that still do not reflect full equality for Black and Brown Americans,” wrote Gary Bledsoe, President of the Texas NAACP, responding to the AG memo. “We’ve never lived in a colorblind society, and you can’t ignore color,” said Texas Rep. Venton Jones, D – Dallas. Monday afternoon, Jones told NBC DFW he sees this as a signal that Attorney General Paxton may soon launch lawsuits against private companies. “And this isn’t the first signal. This is a string of examples since I have been elected, indicating that there is a ramping up of policies that are becoming more and more discriminatory,” said Jones. Arthur Fleming, the former president of the NAACP in Dallas, said some of the diversity programs, both public and private, were intended to help white women along with black and Hispanic Texans. He argues that this action will encourage people to only rely on their own race for support and business. “The fact that we had diversity benefited everybody, the city, everybody. So going against that, it’s going to hurt a lot of people,” said Fleming. Texans will find out the full scope of this legal guidance in the weeks and months ahead. There was also a political element to the opinion on Monday. Paxton is in a competitive race with Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary. Cornyn used to be the Texas Attorney General. Online Paxton wrote his opinion overruled “a flawed opinion from then-AG Cornyn that allowed DEI to flourish.” In response, Sen. Cornyn wrote: “You’d think a competent Attorney General would know that what I issued more than 25 years ago was a retraction of incomplete guidance due to litigation, not an “opinion.” There’s nothing for him to overturn because nothing was issued, so this is yet another waste of time and taxpayer dollars by the TX AG, showboating for attention.”

What to KnowAfter just a field goal in the first quarter, Indiana scored the game’s first touchdown with about six minutes left in the second through tight end Riley Nowakowski powering the rock home.Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. suffered in the first half, but powered through for a 57-yard scoring run immediately in the second to make it 10-7.With the third quarter becoming a dogfight, a blocked punt landing in the end zone for Indiana increased the gap to 17-7. But Fletcher Jr. responded with his second score on the next drive.Hoosiers QB1 Fernando Mendoza made a memorable fourth-down touchdown run from 12 yards out, proving why he won the Heisman Trophy.Fifth-year quarterback Carson Beck, who left Georgia after four seasons, threw a costly pick on the Hurricanes’ final drive.Miami played underdog in front of a home crowd, as Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Dolphins, was the venue for the showdown.Indiana had never won the national championship. The 2026 appearance was also the program’s first in the final.Miami has won five national championships, but none since 2001. Along with the 2001 victory, the Hurricanes hoisted the trophy in 1983, 1987, 1989 and 1991. The 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship Game was played between the top-seeded Indiana Hoosiers and the No. 10-seeded Miami Hurricanes. Follow along for live updates.