ACLU Files Suit On Timeliness Of Immigrant Asylum Interview

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Immigration advocates are filing suit against the federal government, saying immigration officials are violating their own rules by failing to provide a speedy hearing to some immigrants who face deportation.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco by two California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigrant Justice Center.

The groups say the Administrative Procedure Act requires that people who face removal orders and who have been previously deported should be granted a speedy interview to decide if they have a reasonable fear that they would be persecuted in their home country.

The plaintiffs allege that some immigrants have spent months in detention awaiting interviews and later, asylum hearings.

The Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services didn't provide comment.