US judge blocks Trump administration’s asylum rules

PHOENIX » A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s most sweeping set of asylum restrictions less than two weeks before Presidentelect Joe Biden takes office.

The new rules had been set to take effect Monday. The ruling has limited immediate impact because the government has largely suspended asylum at the U.S.Mexico border during the coronavirus pandemic, citing public health concerns.

Still, letting the rules take effect would have been felt by some who can still claim asylum and make it significantly more difficult for all asylumseekers once pandemic-related measures are lifted.

President Donald Trump’s administration argued that the measures were an appropriate response to a system rife with abuse and overwhelmed with unworthy claims. But U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco sided with advocacy groups who sued, saying acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf lacked authority to impose the sweeping rules.

Donato, who was appointed to the bench in 2013 by President Barack Obama, wrote that Wolf’s appointment violated an established order of succession. He said it was the fifth time a court has ruled against Homeland Security on the same grounds.

“The government has recycled exactly the same legal and factual claims made in the prior cases, as if they had not been soundly rejected in well- reasoned opinions by several courts,” Donato wrote.

It was not immediately clear if the Trump administration would make an emergency appeal.

The rules sought to redefine how people qualify for asylum and similar forms of humanitarian protection if they face persecution at home. The restrictions would have broadened the grounds for a judge to deem asylum applications “frivolous” and prohibit applicants from ever winning protections in the U.S.

Aaron Frankel, an attorney for plaintiffs, called the rules “nothing less than an attempt to end the asylum system.”

Asylum is a legal protection designed for people fleeing persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political beliefs or membership to a social group. Any foreigner who steps on U. S. soil has a legal right to apply for asylum, according to U.S. asylum law and international treaty obligations.

The rules would narrow the types of persecution and severity of threats for which asylum is granted.