SEATTLE — Government lawyers urged a federal judge on Thursday to remove certain children listed in a lawsuit that seeks to require court-appointed lawyers for indigent children who enter the country illegally.

But lawyers for the ACLU and immigration rights groups say any child sent to immigration court has a constitutional right to a fair hearing and the only way to ensure that happens is to provide them with a lawyer.

After a four-hour hearing, Judge Thomas Zilly said he would take the arguments under advisement and issue a ruling at a later date.

In Durham, N.C., on Thursday, supporters of a teen facing deportation to his native Honduras held a rally to call for his release from jail.

Wildin Acosta, 19, said he is one of about 800 teenagers who arrived in the United States as unaccompanied children and have been detained or deported by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement since last October.

Acosta, who is being held in a rural Georgia jail, has said he fled Honduras after a gang member threatened to kill him.

The children in the case being heard in Seattle range in age from 1 to 17 and came from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. They now live in Washington state, California, Texas, and Florida.

The government’s lawyer said the children who were captured at the border do not have the same due-process rights as someone who has lived in the country for a longer period of time. He asked Zilly to dismiss those children from the case. He also argued against giving the case class-action status.

Associated Press