By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pro-migrant groups will restart litigation that aims to block the United States from expelling migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border during the coronavirus pandemic, saying the policy illegally cuts off access to asylum.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the leading group representing migrant families barred under the expulsion order, said in a joint court filing with the the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday that negotiations to resolve the matter had “reached an impasse” and that a lawsuit to halt the policy should resume.
U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat who took office in January, has rolled back many of the hardline immigration measures of his Republican predecessor, former President Donald Trump. However, Biden has kept in place a March 2020 health order known as Title 42 that allows the United States to expel migrants encountered at its borders.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin)
