NEW YORK  — A judge ruled that a federal detention facility in New York must reform how it decides parole for immigrants arriving to the United States who claim persecution in their homelands.

U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Wolford of the Western District of New York ruled Nov. 17 in a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the International Refugee Assistance Project on behalf of more than 30 asylum-seekers who were held for extended periods at the detention facility.