Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson [official website] on Monday sued [press release] President Donald Trump over the temporary immigration ban. Trump’s executive order provided a temporary ban on immigration from seven middle eastern countries. He also suspended the country’s refugee program. Ferguson stated in a news conference that his aim is to invalidate the executive order, which he deems to be unlawful. Ferguson was the first AG to take legal action [motion, PDF] against Trump but, 15 other state attorneys general released a statement [JURIST report] with similar objections to the ban. Trump has argued that the 90-day ban is aimed at protecting the nation against extremist and only a temporary measure until a more appropriate immigration and vetting policy is set up. Ferguson’s complaint [complaint, PDF] claims that the actions by the president have separated Washington families, harmed the state economy, and undermined “Washington’s sovereign interest in remaining a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees.

On Friday Trump issued an executive order restricting access to the US for refugees and visa holders from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The order also indefinitely suspends the entry into the US of Syrian refugees. The order further suspended admission of refugees from any country for 120 days while the administration is reviewing the visa program and limited the number of possible refugees for 2017 to 50,000. Over the weekend, several federal judges blocked [JURIST report] parts of the executive order.