A New York City legal services group on Wednesday launched a 44-page lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General William Barr, arguing that a Justice Department immigration court branch is “recklessly endangering” the lives of immigrants and their lawyers by keeping courts open and “strict” case-filing deadlines in place during the COVID-19 outbreak.

While explaining why options for mailing in and emailing key paper-filings do not work for many immigrants and their counsel, Legal Services NYC argues that the city’s federal immigration court system, which is overseen by DOJ’s Executive Office of Immigration Review, or EOIR, “forces [New York City] litigants and their lawyers to leave their homes unnecessarily to go to a copy store and their offices, and to the post office or another delivery service and in doing so to fail to maintain appropriate social distancing.”