Candace Jean, the lawyer for the two men, has petitioned for their release on humanitarian grounds pending the outcome of the government's appeal. She says one of the men, Rochenel Charles, 55, suffers from severe chest and stomach pain and is deteriorating rapidly. The other, Gabriel Joseph, 53, suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress and his mental state is worsening, she says.

Advocates say the decision to continue to detain the men after they were granted asylum highlights what they describe as the government's discriminatory stance toward Haitian asylum seekers.

Under Bush administration policy, Haitian asylum seekers are typically detained until they are deported or, less frequently, granted asylum. Other immigrants are usually allowed to remain with relatives in the community while their cases or related appeals are decided.

A study released last month by Physicians for Human Rights and the Bellevue-New York University program for survivors of torture found a steady deterioration in the psychological well-being of asylum seekers over the months and years they were held in detention centers, many of which offer little access to counseling and other mental health services. "This is not how the United States should be treating people who have been found to merit refugee status in a federal court," Ms. Jean said of her clients. "This kind of detention causes much unnecessary misery."