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Immigration Cases: Asylum Seekers

immigration cases: They're told that they'll need to appear in immigration court, but they typically aren't personally told that they only have a year to apply for asylum, the lawsuit argued, according to Metro News. Due to a backlog in immigration cases, the asylum seekers are often not given a hearing within a year, and thus, by the time they show up in court and learn about the deadline, it's already passed, Martinez found. In many cases, those asylum seekers are released from custody after officials have interviewed them and determined their fears to be credible. This means many asylum seekers who were previously going to have a door slammed in their face are now able to say, 'No, a federal court has said that I am timely filing my application and you need to accept it,' said Matt Adams, legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and an attorney for the plaintiffs. The judge ordered the department to begin providing notice about the one-year deadline within 90 days any time an immigrant seeking asylum is released from custody pending deportation proceedings. Jonathan Withington, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of Homeland Security, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.