People are detained on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building during a demonstration against planned Trump administration cuts to the U.S. refugee resettlement program, in Washington, U.S., October 15, 2019.
WASHINGTON - Three agencies in charge of resettling refugees in the U.S. are suing the Trump administration over the president's executive order allowing states and cities to block refugees from being settled in their areas.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by HIAS, Church World Service, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
They say the order, the first of its kind in U.S. history, will harm the 40-year-old program hailed as a world model.
President Donald Trump issued the order in September requiring states and cities to give written consent before refugees can be settled there. He also lowered the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the country to 18,000.
Trump says local officials wanted more say. Agencies say they already work closely with local governments.