Mass. AG Going to Court Over Immigration Order: Governor

BOSTON, MA — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey intends to go to court Tuesday, joining several other states' attorney generals who say they plan to fight President Donald Trump's executive order banning immigrants and refugees from certain nations from legally entering the United States.

That's according to Gov. Charlie Baker, who told WGBH Monday that Healey is "working on a brief that will probably get filed sometime tomorrow."

According to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts will be joining a federal lawsuit challenging the order, making us the first state to sign on to the litigation as a plaintiff. Echoing Baker's statement, sources tell the Globe Healey's office plans to file a motion to intervene Tuesday in a case that started with two UMass Dartmouth professors.

As thousands protested in Boston, Baker issued a statement over the weekend saying he believed the court should "straighten out" an order that he deems detrimental, particularly due to its potential impact on state economic drivers such as Massachusetts' academic and research community.

"The big question here is, again, it's partly what you say, it's partly how you say it and it's partly how you do it," Baker told the hosts of WGBH Public Radio's recurring "Ask the Governor" segment.

Temporary travel bans "are not unheard of," Baker said, citing the Obama administration's concern over terrorist activity in the countries named under Trump's order. However, Baker said, the way Trump enacted the ban "creates a ton of confusion and chaos."

Healey has called Trump's order "cruel, inhumane and un-American," as well as unlawful. During a mass protest on Boston Common earlier this month, Healey pledged to take Trump and his administration to court over unjust actions.

Read More: Governor Baker: Federal Courts Should 'Straighten Out' Trump's Immigrant, Refugee Order

Patch will update this story.