HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Two former Connecticut residents who were deported to Italy have lost their bid to return to the state to testify before lawmakers about how criminal convictions and deportation affect immigrant families.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant in Hartford on Friday rejected requests by Arnold Giammarco and Paula Milardo, who immigrated legally to Connecticut in the early 1960s with their families when they were children.

They wanted Bryant to overturn a decision by federal immigration officials who said Giammarco and Milardo didn't need to be in Connecticut to submit testimony and could testify via remote video.

Giammarco and Milardo were deported to Italy several years ago because of separate criminal convictions.

The legislature's Judiciary Committee issued unusual subpoenas to the deportees for them to testify at a hearing this month.