ISTANBUL

Twelve immigrants and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Trump administration, aiming to block its policy allowing immigration agents to arrest undocumented people at court hearings.

The lawsuit claims the Trump administration “stripped people of basic due process rights afforded under US immigration law and the Fifth Amendment in order to place them in expedited removal proceedings and deport them without hearings,” according to the plaintiffs' statement.

All twelve plaintiffs were detained while seeking asylum or protection during immigration hearings, with most still in detention. Their lawyers say the government is moving away from the tradition of limiting court arrests, which could deter immigrants from appearing.

The case was filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia, with the plaintiffs asking the judge to rule that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and immigration court arrest guidelines are “arbitrary and capricious” and to invalidate them.

ICE agents are conducting immigration raids across the US as part of US President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.

Department of Homeland Security followed rules limiting immigration arrests at courthouses until recently, but after these were revoked early in Trump’s second term, masked officers began detaining migrants at courts nationwide.

The raids have led to widespread protests, most notably in California, where Trump deployed thousands of National Guard troops and US Marines to assist federal immigration officials in Los Angeles.