SAN DIEGO (AP) – A judge is letting a lawsuit challenging U.S. immigration authorities for separating parents from their children to go forward. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ruled Wednesday in San Diego that the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two mothers can proceed on grounds that the defendants are being denied constitutional rights to a fair hearing. He says he will decide later on whether to grant a nationwide injunction to halt the practice and whether the lawsuit will be expanded to apply to all parents and children who are split up by border authorities. The appointee of President George W. Bush says the practice of separating families is “brutal, offensive, and fails to comport with traditional notions of fair play and decency.”