Expulsion of Somalis on botched deportation flight halted

[Deeq A.]

A Miami federal judge has further halted the expulsion of 92 Somalis suing the U.S. government for turning them into potential targets of an extremist group with a botched deportation flight.

Judge Darrin Gayles said he will decide by Jan. 22 whether he can grant them a longer stay while they reopen their immigration cases to again fight deportation.

The lawsuit says the Somalis sat shackled on an airplane for two days, some urinating on themselves. The December flight reached Senegal and returned to the U.S. because the relief crew was not rested.

ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said news of the botched flight has put the immigrants at risk, arguing Somalia-based Al-Shabab targets people returned from the U.S. A truck bombing blamed on the group killed 512 in October.

ABC