SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KOVR) – California is leading a coalition of 19 other states, including Oregon, filing a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s new rule to hold migrant families in detention indefinitely.
The Department of Homeland Security unveiled the rule last week which replaces the so-called Flores agreement that set a 20-day limit for holding children.
This is the first legal challenge to the proposal.
The states argue that it interferes with their ability to help ensure health, safety and the welfare of children.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said, “Once again this administration has taken an action which we intend to prove in court, is not permissible by law. It is not permissible by our American moral standards. And it is not permissible if we want to be an economic power moving into the 21st century.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom said, “We are also a state that cares deeply about our children. And this notion that you can indefinitely inter children in this state is perverse, unconscionable, clearly in violation of Flores. And clearly warrants this action by the attorney general and the attorneys general of 20 states.”
The other states in the lawsuit are Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington as well as the District Of Columbia.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.