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| Migrant family separations: States sue Trump administration | Migrant family separations: States sue Trump administration |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Seventeen US states have sued President Donald Trump's administration over its "cruel and unlawful" separation of migrant families. | Seventeen US states have sued President Donald Trump's administration over its "cruel and unlawful" separation of migrant families. |
| Democratic attorneys general from states including Washington, New York and California launched the lawsuit. | Democratic attorneys general from states including Washington, New York and California launched the lawsuit. |
| The legal action objects to the policy of refusing entry to asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. | The legal action objects to the policy of refusing entry to asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. |
| It also says President Trump's order on 20 June to halt the separations amid global outcry was "illusory". | It also says President Trump's order on 20 June to halt the separations amid global outcry was "illusory". |
| Massachusetts, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia plus the District of Columbia are the other states suing the administration. | |
| They filed the legal action with the US District Court in Seattle, Washington, on Tuesday. | |
| It is the first legal challenge over family separation from the states, who argue that the Republican president's executive order denies migrant families due process and the right to seek asylum. | |
| Last week, Mr Trump called for speedy deportations on Twitter, just days after he issued the executive order. | |
| New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement that the practice of separating families "is cruel, plain and simple", the Associated Press reported. | |
| "Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can't forget: the lives of real people hang in the balance." | |
| During a conference call with US media on Tuesday, the US health department's Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) confirmed that 2,047 migrant children were currently still in the care of the agency. | |
| The children have been sent to holding cells, converted warehouses, desert tents or foster care around the US. | |
| ORR director Scott Lloyd refused to say whether the agency was still receiving migrant children who had been separated from their families. |