Chicago-area asylum seekers who fled Afghanistan file federal lawsuit as their immigration status remains in limbo

Alina Hanif, a social worker at Muslim Women Resource Center in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, works as Afghan Americans wait for their case worker to advise them on the steps they will need to take to bring their families in Afghanistan to the U.S., Friday afternoon, Aug. 27, 2021. The Muslim Women Resource Center is helping Afghan Americans bring their families in Afghanistan to the U.S. after the Taliban took control of the country. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file)

Four asylum seekers who resettled in the Chicago area are among a group of Afghans who this week filed a lawsuit pushing the federal government to process their applications before their temporary status in the country expires.

The seven plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court of California Northern District, fled Afghanistan as the Taliban seized power once the U.S. military ended their operation in the country.