A Corvallis lawyer on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump, representing an estimated 2,432 children who have been detained in the United States without their parents' consent.
Attorney Jeffrey D. Goodwin, of Heart of the Valley Law, alleges that Trump's zero-tolerance immigration policy, which has resulted in children being separated from their parents when they arrive in the United States illegally, violates international law's "Convention on the Rights of Children.''
The suit asks the court to bar the separation of any child from their parents, unless by court order, and order that the children who have been detained be reunited with their parents.
It also seeks $1,000 a day in damages for each day a child is held without their parents' consent, with 10 percent interest until paid.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene. The plaintiffs are named as "Jorge Doe, Mary Doe, and all other unlawfully detained minor children.''
Goodwin said he's representing all the children detained because they're unable to obtain lawyers.
"The children that have been detained are real children that are entitled to habeas corpus,'' Goodwin said. "Those behind this policy are defiling our flag and everything that it stands for, and, in so doing, diminishing the sacrifice of those who have given so much on behalf of the ideals our nation ascribes to. Basically, I am telling the government that you are unlawfully detaining children and must bring them before a judge.''
-- Maxine Bernstein
mbernstein@oregonian.com
503-221-8212
@maxoregonian