U.S. extends border policy allowing officials to expel migrants

The Biden administration will keep invoking the public health rule Title 42 during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing the U.S. to continue turning away migrants at the border without a chance to seek asylum.

Coronavirus cases are up across the U.S. because of the highly contagious Delta variant, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said if non-citizens are allowed to come into the U.S. from Mexico or Canada, it "creates a serious danger" of further spread.

While many single migrant adults and families have been turned away at the southern border, under the Biden administration, unaccompanied children are allowed to enter the U.S. The administration had been planning on lifting the public health rule this summer, and several immigration advocacy groups have been pushing for an end to it, arguing that the Trump administration imposed the rule not because officials wanted to stop the spread of COVID-19, but because they could use it to limit immigration, The New York Times reports.

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The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday filed a lawsuit to block enforcement of the rule. In response, the Biden administration said it has to be in place because the immigration system is overwhelmed, border facilities are already overcrowded, and there has been an increase in the number of COVID-19 infections among migrants and border officers.