New York To Sue Over Separation Of Immigrant Families

NEW YORK, NY — New York State plans to sue the Trump administration over its widely criticized policy of separating immigrant families caught crossing the United States' southern border. State officials will file a lawsuit in the next two weeks challenging the policy, which has sent more than 70 kids to New York facilities without their parents, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

"There’s been a lot of talk about the morality of this practice, but we also believe that this practice is illegal," Cuomo, a Democrat, told reporters on a conference call.

More than 2,300 children reportedly have been separated from their families at the southern border under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy pushing the prosecution of anyone caught entering the U.S. illegally. Attorney General Jeff Sessions established the policy in April.

More than 70 of those kids are currently held in New York facilities that have contracts with the federal government, Cuomo said. There are nine such facilities across the state, including two in the Bronx, but it's not certain that separated children are at all of them, state officials said.

Images of children held in chain-link cages and an audio recording of crying kids have drawn widespread condemnation for the practice from advocates and lawmakers.

New York officials believe it violates parents' established constitutional right to custody and control over their children regardless of immigration status, Cuomo said.

A coalition of state agencies bringing the lawsuit will also argue that the policy also violates a 1997 federal court settlement governing the treatment of immigrant children and constitutes "outrageous government conduct," the governor said.

"Politics aside, philosophy aside, children have legal rights, parents have legal rights," Cuomo said. "That’s established firmly in the federal and state constitutions and in case law."

The state has not yet determined in what court the suit will be filed, but Cuomo expressed confidence that the state has standing to challenge the policy.

Cuomo said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program under which the immigrant kids are held, has deflected New York's effort to bring mental health services and other support to the children in the state, saying it would take at least two weeks to process the request.

"Why the federal government would want to be in a position to stop a state from offering mental health services, support services, for young children suffering trauma just adds further insult to further injury," the governor said.

The Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Activists are planning to protest the separation policy in New York City and other cities around the country on June 30.

Cuomo, who has recently worked to raise his national profile, was not the only New York official to attack the separations. Attorney General Barbara Underwood joined 20 other state attorneys general in sending a letter to Sessions Tuesday calling the policy "contrary to our laws."

President Donald Trump and his administration have offered varying explanations for the separations. Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, dubiously claimed the administration did not create the policy and said Congress must change the law for families to be detained together.

GOP U.S. senators on Tuesday endorsed ending the separations by passing legislation, The New York Times reported.

(Lead image: Children are held in a cage in a processing center in McAllen, Texas on Sunday, June 17. Photo from U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Flickr)