AG Ferguson launches suit against Trump rules for children at border
Aug 26, 2019, 12:58 PM
Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
(Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is launching another lawsuit against the Trump Administration, in an effort to block new rules that redefine protections and time limits for immigrants and their children apprehended at the border.
Published Friday, the rules would replace the 1997 Flores settlement that established conditions for children caught at the border, and creates new standards to help manage an influx of immigrants and more quickly process the children. It also removes states from their role in regulating facilities.
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The administration has stated that many of the other humane standards will be maintained but that time limits on apprehension will be removed.
According to Ferguson, the new rules will lead to mistreatment of immigrant children and a degradation of care.
“This Administration’s cruel immigration policies are reminiscent of shameful chapters in American history — the internment of Japanese Americans, and the forced separation of Native American families,” Ferguson said. “We won’t allow the Trump Administration to drag us back to the devastating and immoral practices of the past.”
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Washington state-licensed facilities received hundreds of immigrant children last year, with several released into the state. Washington state’s oversight authority found troubling conditions at many of the detention centers. Nineteen other attorney generals are filing suit.
“Detaining families indefinitely and needlessly inflicting trauma on young children is not an immigration policy — it’s an abhorrent abuse of power. This administration has intentionally sought to dehumanize and degrade the immigrants at our southern border. The president’s actions and policies are cruel, inhumane and illegal,” Gov. Inslee said. “Washington will fight to stop this unconscionable policy.”
