US begins phasing out COVID-driven asylum restrictions

Jacqueline Flores, left, holds hands with her daughter Nicky at their home in Virginia, Wednesday, July 14, 2021. Flores, a member of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, is asking President Joe Biden to end Title 42 and allow her family from El Salvador and other migrants to ask for asylum at the border, after her aunt and cousin were recently expelled to Mexico at the U.S. border under the public health rule that allows border agents to turn away migrants during the pandemic. On Friday, April 22, 2022, the Biden administration acknowledged that it has already begun phasing out use of a pandemic-related public health rule that allows the expulsion of migrants without giving them an opportunity to seek asylum, even as 22 states fight in court to preserve the policy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)