The government has launched a series of rules restricting asylum in the past four years, making it almost impossible for asylum seekers to have their applications met. Friday’s injunction blocks the implementation of one of those regulations, which had been introduced last summer and ended in December.
Donato became the last judge to criticize Wolf’s nomination, saying in his decision: “This court is now the fifth federal court to be asked to discuss the same terrain over Wolf’s vel non authority to change immigration regulations.”
He added later: “In fact, the government continues to crash the same car at a gate, in the hope that one day it might break down.”
According to the rule, an individual’s asylum application may face further scrutiny if the person traveled through at least one country while traveling to the United States, but did not seek refuge there.
The Trump administration applied a similar rule to migrants traveling from Latin America through Mexico, but the most recent rule would expand the scope of people who could fall under these restrictions, with some exceptions, as a victim of human trafficking.
The regulation also says that living illegally in the United States for more than a year before applying for asylum would be considered a “significant adverse factor”, despite the exceptions that currently exist. Likewise, failure to file taxes or a criminal conviction can count against an individual’s application for asylum.
This story has been updated in more detail.
CNN’s Caroline Kelly contributed to this report.