A report released in May indicates that the number of days asylum seekers remain in detention is higher in New York than anywhere else in the nation. The study, prepared by the International Human Rights and Migration Project of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California, revealed that by the time the study ended, the average number of days in detention for detainees in New York was 92, while for detainees in San Francisco the average was 44 and for those in Miami it was 62.

Sivajini Kadambarathnam of Sri Lanka

The I.N.S. has dismissed the study as "flawed.," Karen Musalo, a co-director of the study, said that asylum seekers -- sometimes mothers and their children -- are routinely kept in detention in New York for months until a judge hears their case.

That is what happened to Sivajini Kadambarathnam, 35, and her 13-year-old son, Rajakumar. The two were stopped on March 12, upon arrival at Kennedy Airport without documents from Sri Lanka, and ordered detained, her immigration records show. But because no children are allowed in the Wackenhut detention center in Jamaica, Queens, Rajakumar was sent to a center for juveniles in Miami.

"I cried and cried and cried," said Mrs. Kadambarathnam, who fled her country after her husband was taken away by the military last year. "But then they put handcuffs on me and that shut me up. No one had ever done that to me before."

If immigration authorities doubt the validity of Political Asylum claims, perhaps they could talk to this lady about it. This photo was taken at Kotiyagala, Sri Lanka

Immigration officials said they were willing to release the boy, but not the mother, to sponsors. But the sponsor would not take the boy by himself, so the two remained in detention but separated, one of her lawyers, Eileen Collins Bretz, said. The I.N.S said the two were separated because minors were not allowed in the New York detention center. Mrs. Kadambarathnam was granted political asylum and released on June 2, after nearly three months in detention. Her son had been released a day earlier.

In Miami, where the influx of Haitian and Central American immigrants seldom lets up, the Krome detention center routinely releases asylum seekers who can show they have a place to stay, said Stacey Taeuber, a pro-bono lawyer who works with detainees. The policy was different last year: to be released on parole, asylum seekers needed to post a $5,000 bond.

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