Asylum seekers sue US govt over prolonged detention

NEW YORK: A group of migrants seeking asylum in the United States sued the Trump administration on Thursday, claiming the government is unfairly keeping them in custody them while they pursue their cases in immigration court.

The class-action lawsuit on behalf of nine plaintiffs, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups and filed in US District Court in Washington, DC, alleges five US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices have detained virtually all adults seeking asylum at a port of entry.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said it does not comment on pending litigation and the Justice Department declined to comment. President Donald Trump promised during his 2016 campaign to clamp down on illegal immigration and keep immigrants who contest deportation locked up during the process.

The lawsuit said in 2013, 92 percent of asylum seekers found to have credible fear were promptly released from custody in the five field offices. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said the asylum process has been "subject to rampant abuse and fraud" and that releasing immigrants as they pursue asylum claims created "incentives for illegal aliens to come here and claim a fear of return". "The practice of releasing asylum seekers is "still in place on paper" but "is effectively a dead letter" in practice, ACLU attorney Michael Tan said in an interview.