The Trump administration was sued on Tuesday by 17 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, which are seeking to stop what they called its "cruel and unlawful" policy of forcibly separating immigrant families who enter the country from Mexico.

In a complaint filed with the U.S. district court in Seattle, the states called President Donald Trump's June 20 executive order purporting to suspend the separations "illusory."

The complaint said the administration's policy is also unconstitutional in part because it is "motivated by animus and a desire to harm" immigrants arriving from Latin America.