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Lawsuit: Administration unfairly prolongs family separation

The photo shows the Federal Detention Center where Blanca Orantes-Lopez is held away from her child Tuesday, June 19, 2018, in SeaTac, Wash. The woman from El Salvador sits in the federal prison south of Seattle, having reported to immigration authorities after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in Texas. Her son, Abel Alexander, is in the government’s custody at a children's home in Kingston, N.Y. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
Associated Press

SEATTLE – Immigrant rights activists in Seattle are suing the Trump administration, saying it is unnecessarily prolonging the separation of asylum-seeking immigrants from their children.

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle on behalf of three Central American migrants held in federal custody in Washington state, thousands of miles from where immigration officials have transferred their children. The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of other immigrants separated from their children and detained in Washington state.

The organization says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has provided no information about whether or when the detainees’ asylum cases will move forward or when they’ll be reunited with their children.

Washington, California, New Jersey and at least eight other states have also announced plans to sue the administration over the separations this week.