BOSTON (WHDH) - Massachusetts and several other states said Thursday that they plan to sue the Trump administration over a policy of separating immigrant families illegally entering the United States.
Attorney General Maura Healey says Massachusetts will join a coalition of 11 attorneys general filing a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and relevant administration officials over their “illegal and immoral” policy of forcibly separating children from their families at the southern border.
“This is about our duty as a nation to protect children and keep families together,” Healey said. “We’ve seen this Administration pass executive orders and issue proclamations to muddy the waters when they’ve done something illegal. We are suing to make sure this cruel policy ends, that families are reunited and that this never happens again.”
The lawsuit will also argue that while the separation policy starts at the southern border it impacts states across the country – including Massachusetts. Children who have been separated from their parents at the border already have been sent to states across the country.
“The ‘zero tolerance’ policy adopted by the Justice Department has not only torn families apart, causing severe emotional trauma to children; it has also created a humanitarian crisis that the new executive order does nothing to resolve,” said Eva Millona, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Coalition. “No provisions seem to have been made to ensure that parents and children can be reunited as soon as their cases are resolved.”
Other states set to join Massachusetts are Washington, California, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Pennsylvania. New York has separately announced plans to sue.
The lawsuit would be filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle.
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