California IN BRIEF : LAGUNA NIGUEL : INS Hearing Center Will Move by June

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said it will move its main immigrant asylum hearing center to downtown Anaheim by June. For the past year, most local asylum hearings have been held at temporary offices in the Chet Holifield Federal Building in Laguna Niguel. Asylum hearings also have been held in downtown Los Angeles, and some will continue to be held there, said Rosemary Melville, INS regional asylum director. But the announced move angered immigrant rights leaders, who said the majority of local asylum seekers are Salvadorans who live near downtown Los Angeles and it is unrealistic to expect them to travel to Anaheim. Several immigrant groups have sued the INS to block the move out of Los Angeles.