BFF-06 US states sue Washington over immigrant separation

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BFF-06

US-POLITICS-IMMIGRATION-CHILDREN-LAWSUIT

US states sue Washington over immigrant separation

LOS ANGELES, June 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Several US states are suing the
Trump administration over its “zero tolerance” policy that led to thousands
of migrant children being split from their families on the US border with
Mexico.

Although President Donald Trump reversed course, signing an executive
order on Wednesday to end the practice following domestic and international
outrage, Washington State on Thursday said it will lead a coalition of states
legally challenging “the policy of forced family separation on the US
southern border.”

Despite Trump’s order, there was no immediate plan in place for family
reunification.

“We have no way to predict from one day to the next what this president’s
policies or intentions are,” Washington state Governor Jay Inslee said in a
statement.

“These cruel policies and this executive order are un-American and create
chaos, fear and uncertainty. Washington continues to stand ready to ensure
this president is held accountable.”

In an effort to staunch the flow of tens of thousands of migrants from
Central America and Mexico arriving at the southern boundary every month,
Trump in early May ordered that all those crossing the border illegally would
be arrested, and their children held separately as a result.

Nearly all of the arriving families, and many others, have officially
requested asylum, citing the incessant violence in their home countries.

Trump’s executive order “does nothing to reunify families already torn
apart by the Trump Administration’s policy,” the Washington state attorney
general’s office said.

“Second, the order is riddled with so many caveats as to be meaningless,”
it said in a statement.

The states’ lawsuit, which was expected to be filed Thursday, will allege
the Administration “has violated the constitutional due process rights of the
parents and children by separating them as a matter of course and without any
finding that the parent poses a threat to the children,” the attorney
general’s office said.

It also called the federal policy discriminatory because it only targets
the southern border, and says the administration has violated US asylum laws
by turning people away at ports of entry.

Ten states and the District of Columbia are so far set to join Washington
State in the suit.

The northwestern state of Washington has been one of the most aggressive,
along with California and New York, in taking legal action against Trump’s
administration, including over its effort to block migrants from several
Muslim-majority countries.

Trump’s administration has in turn taken California to court challenging
its legislation that restricts local police and businesses from cooperating
with immigration authorities.

BSS/AFP/GMR/0826 hrs