(Image source from: WDEF-WDEF)
Seventeen states sued the United States President Donald Trump's administration, including New York, Washington, and California on Tuesday in an endeavor to force officials to reunite undocumented immigrant families who have been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The states which are led by Democratic attorneys general joined Washington, D.C., in filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, becoming the introductory legal challenge by states over the practice.
"The administration's practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple," New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in an emailed statement. "Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can't forget: the lives of real people hang in the balance."
The immigration authorities in the recent weeks have separated nearly 2,300 children from their parents, sparkling global indignation as photographs and audio of weeping children emerged. Parents are in custody thousands of miles from their separated children, whom they have been unable to see and have rarely spoken to for over a month.
The president earlier this week issued an executive order to end "zero tolerance" policy, after falsely blaming Democrats for the separations and insisting that only Congress could fix the issue. The policy prosecutes adults who enter the U.S. illegally.
The states say the order fails to reunite separated families who have already been torn apart. They further accuse Trump administration of denying the due process of parents and children.
The immigrant rights group of Seattle sued trump administration on behalf of confined asylum-seekers in Washington State who have been set apart from their children.
The further states that sued are Massachusetts, California, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
By Sowmya Sangam
