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<\/a>\nAttorney General Bob Ferguson announces lawsuit challenging Trump executive orders on immigration at a Jan. 30, 2017 press conference. From left: Solicitor General Noah Purcell, Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Wing Luke Civil Rights Unit Chief Colleen Melody, Assistant Attorney General Marsha Chien, Solicitor General’s Office Fellow Kelly Paradis, Assistant Attorney General Patricio Marquez.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General also filed a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order seeking an immediate halt to the Executive Order\u2019s implementation.<\/p>\n
The complaint asserts that the President\u2019s actions are \u201cseparating Washington families, harming thousands of Washington residents, damaging Washington\u2019s economy, hurting Washington-based companies, and undermining Washington\u2019s sovereign interest in remaining a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is above the law \u2014 not even the President,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cAnd in the courtroom, it is not the loudest voice that prevails. It\u2019s the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferguson argues that the Executive Order violates the U.S. Constitution\u2019s guarantee of Equal Protection and the First Amendment\u2019s Establishment Clause, infringes individuals\u2019 constitutional right to Due Process and contravenes the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.<\/p>\n
Major Washington state institutions supported the Attorney General\u2019s lawsuit through declarations filed alongside the complaint. In their declarations, Amazon and Expedia set forth the detrimental ways the Executive Order impacts their operations and their employees.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, a federal judge in Brooklyn issued an order enjoining the Trump Administration from enforcing its Executive Order as to certain individuals who have arrived in the United States. Ferguson\u2019s lawsuit is broader in scope and seeks to invalidate entire sections of the Executive Order nationwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever has our system of checks and balances been more important. Washington is filing the first suit of its kind in the nation, thanks to the good work of Attorney General Ferguson and his team,\u201d said Gov. Jay Inslee, who joined Ferguson at today\u2019s press conference. \u201cI would not be surprised to see more. Until Congress takes this Administration to task for the obvious moral and legal injuries suffered by innocent, law-abiding people entering our country, it is up to states to protect and promote the rights of the people who reside in our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s complaint asks the court to declare major sections of the Executive Order illegal and unconstitutional and to enjoin the Trump Administration from enforcing the policy.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General also asks to court to schedule a hearing within 14 days.<\/p>\n
A copy of the complaint will be available on the Attorney General\u2019s Office\u2019s website at www.atg.wa.gov later today.<\/p>\n
Solicitor General Noah Purcell; Deputy Solicitor General Anne Egeler; Assistant Attorneys General from the AGO\u2019s Wing Luke Civil Rights Unit including Unit Chief Colleen Melody, Patricio Marquez and Marsha Chien; and Solicitor General\u2019s Office Fellow Kelly Paradis are handling the state\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General\u2019s Office would also like to acknowledge the outpouring of support from the public and the legal community, with special thanks to the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the National Immigration Law Center for their extensive work on these issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seattle, WA…Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that he is filing a lawsuit in federal court today against President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and high-ranking Trump Administration officials. Ferguson\u2019s complaint asks the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington to declare unconstitutional key provisions of President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1599,"featured_media":32768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,17,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-national-news","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/waag.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}