Rising Immigration and COVID Spread Pull White House Back to Court Over Expulsions

The Joe Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Monday that they have reached an “impasse” over the expulsions of migrant families at the southwest border and are returning to federal court to ask a judge to rule on the issue, reports the Washington Post. The lawsuit is before U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who blocked the Trump administration from expelling unaccompanied migrant children and teens in November. Sullivan ordered the ACLU and the government to file a report indicating whether they could resolve the dispute another way, such as via mediation.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the recent spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant has bolstered the argument that the public health rule, known as Title 42, remains necessary to contain the coronavirus. And the virus’s quickening spread comes as border officials are so overwhelmed with the persistent pace of illegal migration that they say that allowing more migrants into the country by lifting the rule poses the threat of a humanitarian crisis. The administration said that blocking enforcement of the rule now would lead to the immigration system being further overwhelmed by asylum-seekers and to even more overcrowded and unsafe conditions in border facilities. Overcrowding at southern border stations makes it difficult to impose public health precautions like social distancing, the filing said, noting that more migrants have been testing positive for the coronavirus. More border officers are testing positive, as well.