DHS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit Friday [3-9-18] charging the Trump administration with separating immigrant parents from children as they await asylum proceedings.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court of the Southern District of California, accuses the government of ‘forcible separation of parents from their young children for no legitimate reason’ in violation of federal law and the due process clause.
While there are only two named plaintiffs in the case, the ACLU says it is filing ‘on behalf of hundreds of other parents whom the government has forcibly separated.’
The Trump administration denies that is separating families without valid reasons.
Allegations that the government is separating women and children ‘for reasons other than to protect the child’ should be viewed ‘with the level of skepticism they deserve,’ said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Tyler Houlton… Houlton pointed to intelligence reports of cases were children have been used and trafficked by unrelated adults in an effort to avoid detention.
He said that due to privacy concerns ‘for adults and especially children, we are often unable to share details of these cases.’
Immigrants rights advocates, however, have say the separations are more widespread than DHS wants to admit.”
-Ariane de Vogue and Tal Kopan, “ACLU class action lawsuit seeks to block immigrant family separations,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Mar. 9, 2018 04:18pm