Federal court blocks Trump's rule to deny asylum to migrants with criminal records

The government of President Donald Trump will not be able to impose new obstacles to grant asylum to those applicants who have been convicted of certain crimes, ruled this Thursday a federal judge, who

.

The rule is "too general" and unnecessary

because current federal laws include a list of ineligible crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering and forgery, Judge Susan Illston ruled.

Illston ruled in favor of the lawsuit brought by Pangea Legal Services, a provider of legal services for immigrants, and other nonprofit organizations after

which had started to apply this Friday.

Migrants at the Tijuana border ask the US to attend to their asylum requests

Oct. 22, 202000: 15

The judge agreed with the plaintiffs' allegation that

and indicated that the rule was "substantially and procedurally flawed."

Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Department of Justice responded to requests for comment on the ruling from The Associated Press news agency.

Migrants try to enter the United States.Getty Images

["Has no sense!"

A federal judge denies that the Border Patrol can conduct asylum interviews with immigrants]

The magistrate issued a temporary blocking order with no expiration date and

on the prosecuting party's motion to issue a preliminary injunction.

While the White House has implemented various measures to make it difficult to obtain asylum, President-elect

, but has not specifically commented on this measure so far.

[These are Joe Biden's proposals for migrants after Obama's record of deportations]

Although the current rules deny asylum to people convicted of "particularly serious crimes", the new measure would have added a series of crimes to disqualify an applicant such as convictions for domestic violence - whether serious or minor -, assault, illegal re-entry to the country, identity theft, benefit fraud, migrant smuggling and drunk driving.

The rule would also have denied asylum to people convicted of crimes that an arbitrator "knows or has reason to believe" were committed in support of a gang.

This is how they describe one of the most feared immigration judges in the country, who imposes high bails and denies asylum cases

Oct. 6, 202003: 00

People fleeing persecution in their countries for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political beliefs, or membership of a social group are eligible for asylum in the United States, but

.

['Stay in Mexico': a year of chaos, improvisation and despair] 

Trump has referred to the asylum figure as a "scam,"

and has pushed a series of policies against it since the United States became the top destination for applicants in 2017.

A rule proposed last June gives judges the authority to reject applications without the need for a hearing. 

Another measure from July allows authorities to block applicants from countries with high rates of contagious diseases.

With information from The Associated Press.