Ferguson Sues Trump Over Border Separations: 5 Things To Know

SEATAC, WA - Attorney General Bob Ferguson will sue the Trump administration over the government's "zero tolerance" border enforcement policies. The attorney general's office began working on the lawsuit last week, before Trump rescinded the border separations policy - but Ferguson this administration is still acting unlawfully.

Here are five things to know about Ferguson's new lawsuit against Trump:

1) Ferguson is suing Trump in federal court and claims that some of the administration's immigration policies violate the Constitution.

"The states’ lawsuit will allege the Administration has violated the constitutional due process rights of the parents and children by separating them as a matter of course and without any finding that the parent poses a threat to the children," Ferguson said Thursday.

"The policy is also irrationally discriminatory, in violation of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection, because it targets only people crossing our southern border, and not anyone crossing the Northern border or entering the United States elsewhere. The states will also argue that this policy once again violates the Administrative Procedure Act, because it is arbitrary and capricious ..."

2) Ferguson announced the lawsuit at a federal detention center in SeaTac. There are about 200 undocumented people being held there, including 50 mothers who have been separated from their children. The lawsuit will attempt to address how parents and children will be reunited. The executive order Trump signed Wednesday rescinding the separations policy did not address reunification.

"[T]he order is riddled with so many caveats as to be meaningless. For example, the order requires appropriations, although the total amount is unknown, as is the timeline for when or if such an appropriation would happen. It also relies on a federal judge approving a plan to indefinitely detain children, a scenario Ferguson described at the press conference as unlikely," Ferguson said Thursday.

3) Ferguson has announced that he intends to sue, but no suit had been filed by the end of Thursday, according to federal court records. It's unclear how quickly the case will proceed once the suit is filed.

4) This is a multi-state lawsuit. Washington will take the lead, but Massachusetts, California, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Minnesota are also on board. More states could join the lawsuit.

5) This is Ferguson's 27th lawsuit against Trump, a streak began in 2017 when he successfully sued to stop Trump's travel ban. In each suit, Ferguson has cited Washington residents or businesses being negatively affected by the president's policies.

Image via Shutterstock