New York to Sue Trump for ‘Violating the Constitutional Rights’ of Families Separated at Border

New York plans to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration for “violating constitutional rights of children and families,” Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in a Tuesday press release.

“Now, parents … are being systematically detained, separated from their children, and, in some cases, deported with no meaningful opportunity to participate in making decisions concerning the care and custody of their children,” the Tuesday press release said. “Yet these parents are still afforded rights under the United States Constitution to familial integrity and to decide to exercise their parental rights in New York state.”

The press release said the Trump administration’s policy of separating families at the border violates the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement. The agreement, which stems from a settlement between immigrant rights organizations and the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Services, stipulates that the government must “expeditiously process” minors taken into custody at the border and requires Immigration and Naturalization Services to “make and record … prompt and continuous efforts … toward family reunification.”

“We know of at least 70 children who are being held in federal facilities across New York state … New York is suing to protect the health and well-being of those children and others throughout the nation,” Cuomo said in a tweet accompanying the lawsuit announcement.

Cuomo has previously criticized the administration’s immigration policy, tweeting on June 7 that he has “deep frustration with the federal government’s assault on NY’s immigrant families” after he talked to the wife of a pizza delivery man who Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained after delivering to a military base.

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