Rights group sues over US denying Afghans humanitarian entry

By PHILIP MARCELO
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A Boston civil rights group is challenging the U.S. government’s denial of humanitarian relief to scores of Afghans fleeing from the Taliban. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed the lawsuit in Boston federal court Wednesday. It’s on behalf of Afghans and their New England-area families who petitioned to bring relatives into the U.S. through a rarely used immigration provision called humanitarian parole. The ACLU says the U.S. denials left Afghans stranded and at risk of death. The State Department and other federal agencies named in the suit didn’t respond to emails seeking comment Thursday.