DES MOINES, Iowa- Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has joined a multi-state lawsuit, challenging the Trump administration's immigration policies.
Attorneys General from 16 other states and the District of Columbia are also part of the suit, filed today (Tuesday) in Washington State.
Miller says the family separation policy at the U-S southern border, harms Iowa's interests in maintaining families and prohibiting discrimination.
“The State of Iowa has a longstanding policy that favors the protection of the family unit,” Miller said in the complaint. “The State of Iowa only separates parents and children in the most exceptional of circumstances because when we do so we ‘inflict a unique deprivation of a constitutionally protected liberty interest.’”
The states’ lawsuit alleges the administration has violated the constitutional due process rights of the parents and children by separating them as a matter of course and without any finding that the parent poses a threat to the children.
The suit claims the policy is also irrationally discriminatory, in violation of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection.
The states also argue that this policy once again violates the Administrative Procedure Act.