19 States, District of Columbia, Sue Trump Administration Over Illegal Immigrant Detention

Illegal immigrant families turn themselves to U.S. Border Patrol to seek asylum following an illegal crossing of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo, Texas, on Aug. 23, 2019. Loren Elliott/Reuters

NEW YORK—Attorneys general for 19 states and the District of Columbia sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Aug. 26 to block a new rule to indefinitely detain illegal immigrant families seeking to settle in the United States.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, was the first litigation seeking to stop the rule, officially published on Friday, from taking effect in October.