In a challenge to the Obama administration’s strategy for deterring illegal border crossings by Central American migrants, civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit on Friday claiming that the government committed egregious due process violations against women and children held for deportation at a detention center in New Mexico.

The lawsuit, brought in Federal District Court in Washington, says that immigration authorities created a system to rush deportations from the temporary center holding about 600 mothers and their children in the isolated desert town of Artesia, N.M. The suit accuses officials of raising numerous legal and practical hurdles to discourage migrants from seeking asylum, after deciding in advance that few petitions would succeed.

“By locking up women and babies, the Obama administration has made it their mission to deport these people as quickly as possible,” said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, one of the groups bringing the suit. “Our message to the government is simple: Follow the law,” she said during a conference call with reporters. “We must ensure that every person who interacts with our legal system has a fair hearing.”

Other groups bringing the lawsuit, on behalf of 10 women and children who are or were recently detained in Artesia, are the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Immigration Council and the National Lawyers Guild.