Biden admin let 2,000 ‘vulnerable’ migrants into U.S., will allow 250 more per day, says ACLU

WASHINGTON — The America Civil Liberties Union says the Biden administration has allowed roughly 2,000 “particularly vulnerable” immigrants to enter the U.S. as they await their immigration hearings, an exception to the current policy that blocks most families and single adult migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Those considered particularly vulnerable include those who are ill, families with very young children or immigrants who have been threatened or attacked while they wait in Mexico. They are identified to Customs and Border Protection by international humanitarian organizations, said the ACLU.

Eventually, the program for vulnerable migrants will allow 250 people who have tested negative for Covid-19 to enter each day, the ACLU said.

Those will be in addition to all unaccompanied children and some families already allowed to enter the United States by the Biden administration. Others have been blocked under a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authority known as Title 42 intended to stop the spread of Covid-19.

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The admittance of vulnerable migrants is the result of negotiations in an ongoing lawsuit brought by the ACLU to challenge the use of Title 42.

“While these concessions will hopefully save lives, they are not a substitute for eliminating Title 42 and restoring asylum processing fully,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

Another concession by the Biden administration as part of the lawsuit, according to the ACLU, was an agreement to temporarily suspend the practice of flying immigrants who cross into the U.S. in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas to El Paso, Texas, or San Ysidro, California, to expel them there.

“Lateral flights,” as they were called, allowed CBP to spread its resources to process immigrants away from the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest border sector for migrant traffic. While they are now suspended, the ACLU said the government could restart lateral flights at any time.

The Department of Homeland Security and CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment on either policy.