ACLU: Detainees owed bail hearing after 6 months

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union wants U.S. courts to order bail hearings within six months for detainees awaiting possible deportation.

Some immigrants have spent years in detention without the chance to seek bail.

ACLU lawyers say Cheikh Diop has spent nearly three years in an immigration prison in Pennsylvania without a hearing. He is in custody over a 1995 drug conviction.

Diop has lived in the U.S. for about 20 years and has four American-born children. He is fighting removal to his native Senegal.

He recently had his Luzerne County guilty plea overturned because he was not told of the deportation risk.

Justice Department lawyers oppose the six-month limit. They argued Monday in a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia that hearings should be held in a “reasonable” time period.