NY Attorney General Sues To Halt Immigrant Family Separations

NEW YORK, NY — The attorneys general for New York and 17 other states filed a lawsuit Tuesday to stop the Trump administration's practice of separating immigrant families caught crossing the southern U.S. border. The complaint filed in a Seattle federal court argues the policy — which has sent more than 300 kids to New York without their parents — discriminates against Latin American immigrants and violates parents' due process rights.

"By tearing children away from their parents and sending them hundreds of miles away, the Trump administration has already caused unfathomable trauma to these children, while undermining New York’s fundamental interests in protecting their health, safety, and wellbeing," Attorney General Barbara Underwood said in a statement.

The lawsuit asks the court to force federal authorities to stop enforcing the separation policy and reunite the kids and parents who have already been separated.

The suit against President Donald Trump, several federal agencies and their leaders comes a week after Gov. Andrew Cuomo pledged legal action against the separations, which have prompted outrage locally and across the country.

Federal authorities began separating immigrant children from their parents under Attorney General Jeff Sessions' "zero tolerance" policy calling for the prosecution of anyone caught crossing the border illegally.

At least 321 of those kids have been placed with 11 foster care agencies across New York State, the attorney general's office said — less than half the governor's previous estimate of about 700. The policy's apparently hasty implementation and a lack of communication from federal agencies have caused consternation among local and state officials.

Trump issued an executive order last week meant to allow families to be detained together rather than separated, but the lawsuit says the move won't help the thousands of families already "traumatized" by the separations.

The multistate lawsuit argues the separation policy violates federal statutes and the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

First, the complaint says, it violates parents' constitutional due process rights by taking their children away without any finding that they pose a danger to the kids.

And because the policy has only been implemented at the southern border, the suit says, it unfairly harms immigrants from Latin America and is "motivated by animus and a desire to harm this particular group." The states argue that's against the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws.

The attorneys general say the federal government has violated U.S. asylum laws by turning immigrants away from ports of entry designated for asylum seekers. They also argue federal authorities also have "no legitimate basis" for the "arbitrary" separation policy, which the complaint says is in violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

The policy is a particular affront to New York State's interest in reuniting children with their parents and its stance against discriminatory policies, the suit says. The influx of immigrant kids will also increase expenses for the state's educational and child welfare systems, according to the complaint.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit.

Federal officials have said that more than 500 immigrant families had been reunified as of Saturday, while more than 2,000 kids were being cared for in federally funded facilities as of June 20.

"The United States government knows the location of all children in its custody and is working to reunite them with their families," the Department of Homeland Security said in a fact sheet released Saturday.

(Lead image: A border facility for immigrant kids is pictured in McAllen, Texas. Photo from U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Flickr)