SAN DIEGO - A federal judge has rejected a government plea to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that severe overcrowding at an Otay Mesa immigration jail has violated several inmates' constitutional rights, it was reported Friday.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw's ruling yesterday means the case filed on behalf of several immigration detainees will move forward, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleges dangerous overcrowding, with three inmates often housed in cells designed for two, according to the newspaper.

The facility is operated by the private Corrections Corporation of America under a contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Since the case was filed, two of the detainees named in the lawsuit have been deported and another has been transferred to a facility in El Centro. The government argued the case should be dismissed because the three no longer are in the facility and don't have a valid claim, the Union-Tribune reported.

In court papers, ICE lawyers argued that the case was moot for the remaining two plaintiffs because detainees are no longer housed three to a cell, and daily jail populations have been well below capacity, the newspaper reported.

The government has not made strong enough assurances that it would never allow overcrowding in the future at Otay Mesa, Sabraw said. Moreover, ICE has not acknowledged that overcrowding was a problem or that it violated the detainees' constitutional rights. Under the law, both of those conditions would have to be met for the case to be dismissed, the judge ruled, according to the newspaper.