17 States Sue Trump Admin In Effort To Reunite Separated Migrant Families

UNITED STATES - June 19: A group of mothers and their children protesting the separation of families at the southern border are escorted out of the Oversight of the FBI and DOJ Actions in Advance of the 2016 Election... UNITED STATES - June 19: A group of mothers and their children protesting the separation of families at the southern border are escorted out of the Oversight of the FBI and DOJ Actions in Advance of the 2016 Election hearing held in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform and House Judiciary Committees Tuesday June 19, 2018. (Photo By Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call) MORE LESS
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SEATTLE (AP) — Seventeen states, including Washington, New York and California, sued President Donald Trump’s administration Tuesday in an effort to force officials to reunite migrant families who have been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The states, all of which are led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle. It’s the first legal challenge by states over the practice.

“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in an emailed statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: the lives of real people hang in the balance.”

Immigration authorities have separated about 2,300 children from their parents in recent weeks, sparking global outrage as images and recordings of weeping children emerged. Many parents are in custody thousands of miles from their children, whom they have not been able to see and have rarely spoken to for a month or more.

After falsely blaming Democrats for the separations and insisting that only Congress could fix the issue, the president last week issued an executive order designed to end the practice under his “zero tolerance” policy, which prosecutes adults who come to the U.S. illegally.

But the states say his order is riddled with caveats and fails to reunite parents and children who have already been torn apart. They accuse the administration of denying the parents and children due process; denying the immigrants, many of whom are fleeing gang violence in Central America, their right to seek asylum; and being arbitrary in applying the policy.

A U.S. judge in San Diego already is considering whether to issue a nationwide injunction sought by the American Civil Liberties Union that would order the administration to reunite the separated children with their parents.

A Seattle-based immigrant rights group sued Monday on behalf of detained asylum-seekers in Washington state who have been separated from their children.

The states that sued are Massachusetts, California, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

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  1. "The states, all of which are led by Democratic attorneys general, "

    Republican Attorneys General issued this joint statement: “We really don’t care.”

  2. I think you left off “do U?”

  3. Has anyone kept tally of all the lawsuits that Dotard is tangled up in? Or how much it’s costing the taxpayer?

    The King of Bankruptcy is going to take us all down with him…

  4. I haven’t read the decision, but how will the Muslim Travel Ban ruling affect the zero tolerance/take the kids away policy?

  5. Muslim children will be taken away and cooked…

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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