6-27-2018
SEATTLE, Wash. — Seventeen states with democratic attorneys general, including Washington, filed suit in federal court Tuesday in Seattle against the Trump Administration to force officials to reunite migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Tuesday a federal judge in California issued a ruling on a separate but similar lawsuit ordering border authorities to reunite children with their families within thirty days.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the federal ruling would impact the states’ lawsuit.
The president issued an executive order last week designed to end the practice of separating families at the border, but the states say his order is riddled with caveats and isn’t retroactive.
The states that joined Ferguson’s lawsuit include: Massachusetts, California, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.