Judge blocks Trump administration’s asylum rules

PHOENIX — A federal judge Friday blocked the Trump administration’s most sweeping set of asylum restrictions less than two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

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

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. “This is a troubling litigation strategy. In effect, the government keeps crashing the same car into a gate, hoping that someday it might break through.”

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