Asylum seekers sue Trump administration over prolonged detentions

A group of migrants seeking asylum in the United States have sued the administration of US President Donald Trump, claiming the government is unfairly keeping them in custody.

The class-action lawsuit filed on Thursday in a US federal court in Washington, DC, alleges five US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices have detained virtually all border-crossers at a port of entry while the migrants pursue their cases in immigration court.

The US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said it does not comment on pending litigation and the US Justice Department declined to comment.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of nine plaintiffs by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and immigrant rights groups.

The lawsuit alleges that ICE offices are violating the US Constitution and the agency’s own policy guidelines by refusing the release most immigrants.

Trump promised during the 2016 presidential election campaign that he would clamp down on illegal immigration and keep immigrants who contest deportation locked up during the process.

Under an ICE directive issued in 2009, migrants who cross US borders illegally and apply for asylum and have a “credible fear” of persecution or torture in their home countries can be released from detention on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who heads the Justice Department, 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.

A recent decision by the US Supreme Court found asylum seekers who crossed the border illegally do not have a right to a bond hearing in immigration court, making the need for ICE’s policy of humanitarian parole all the more urgent, Tan said.