Press Release  AG Healey to Sue Trump Administration Over Illegal Family Separation Policy

Boston — Attorney General Maura Healey today joined a coalition of 11 attorneys general in announcing that they will be filing a lawsuit against President Trump, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security over the Administration’s illegal and immoral “zero tolerance” policy of forcibly separating children from their families at the southern border.

The lawsuit, which will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, will ask the Court to order the federal government to immediately end the cruel and unconstitutional policy and to reunite the thousands of families that have been torn apart as a result. In the lawsuit, the attorneys general will argue that the policy violates due process and equal protection. The lawsuit will further contend that with no plan or process to reunite these families, yesterday’s executive order does not actually end the illegal and cruel family separation policy.

“This is about our duty as a nation, at all levels of government, to promote and protect children and to keep families together,” said AG Healey. “We’ve seen the Administration pass executive orders and issue proclamations to muddy the waters when it knows it’s done something illegal. We are suing to actually put an end to this cruel policy and reunite these families.”

"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. Instead of rushing to build large-scale family detention facilities, the administration needs to prioritize coordinating between agencies to return children to their parents as fast as possible. This is a human rights violation, and it must be corrected immediately."

Announced in April, the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy required immediate separation of children from their parents and criminal prosecution of all adults who enter illegally at the southern border, including those seeking asylum. Under the new executive order, adults who cross the border with children are housed in detention centers and potentially could be detained indefinitely. The executive order still calls for adults who cross the border, including those seeking asylum, to be criminally prosecuted, and there is no plan for reunification of currently separated families.

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 have already been sent to live in Massachusetts with family sponsors.

AG Healey and the coalition of attorneys general will allege that these policies are violations of international, federal and state law. Laws and judicial precedents almost universally state that children’s best interests are in remaining with their parents, absent a rigorous judicial inquiry. The Department of Justice is continuing to inflict long-term trauma on innocent children.

Joining AG Healey in filing the lawsuit will be the states of Washington, California, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

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