States planning to sue over family separation policy

SEATAC, Wash. — Washington and more than a half-dozen other states said Thursday that they plan to sue the Trump administration over a policy of separating immigrant families illegally entering the United States.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson made the announcement Thursday outside a federal prison in the city of Seatac, south of Seattle, where about 200 immigration de- tainees have been transferred — including dozens of women separated from their children under the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. It calls for prosecuting all migrants caught illegally entering the country.

Ferguson said the separations violate the due process rights of children and their parents and that President Donald Trump’s executive order Wednesday halting the practice has not resolved the legal concerns.

“This is a rogue, cruel, and unconstitutional policy,” Ferguson said. “We’re going to put a stop to it.”

The lawsuit would be filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle.

The states set to join Ferguson’s lawsuit are Massachusetts, California, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Minnesota. New York has separately announced plans to sue.

Ferguson has repeatedly challenged the administration, most notably when he successfully sued to block Trump’s initial travel ban against several mostly Muslim countries.