SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The state of Washington will challenge U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigration from some Muslim-majority states in federal court, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said on Monday.
Washington will be the first state to take on the executive order that went into effect on Friday, heightening the legal stakes surrounding the order that has sparked a global backlash.
Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, said it was important for the Trump administration to face lawsuits from the state itself, and not just cases filed by individuals who have been impacted by the order.
“It is an insult and a danger to all of the people of the state of Washington, of all faiths,” Inslee told reporters on Monday.
Technology companies Amazon.com Inc and Expedia Inc, both of which are based in Washington, will support the suit, Ferguson told reporters on a conference call.
Amazon and Expedia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The executive order put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day bar on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Alexandria Sage and Tom Brown)
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