6-26-2018
SEATTLE, Wash. (AP) — Immigrant rights activists in Seattle are suing the Trump Administration, saying it is unnecessarily prolonging the separation of asylum-seeking immigrants from their children.
The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, who recently received a funding boost from Governor Jay Inslee, filed the lawsuit Monday on behalf of three Central American women held in federal custody in Washington State, thousands of miles from where immigration officials have transferred their children.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of dozens of other illegal immigrants separated from their children and detained in Washington.
The organization says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has provided no information about whether or when the detainees’ asylum cases will move forward or when they’ll be reunited with their children.
In 2016, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project received over $2 million in government grants and contracts. They have dozens of attorneys on staff, with locations in Granger, Seattle, Tacoma, and Wenatchee.