Trump just declared a national emergency at the border to access billions of dollars to build a wall that Congress refused to give him, transforming a highly charged policy dispute into a fundamental confrontation over a separation of powers.
In a live televised announcement from the Rose Garden at the White House, Mr. Trump said he would sign the declaration in order to protect the country from the influx flow of drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants who come across the border from Mexico, as he described it as a profound threat to our national security.
Trump told reporters, “We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border, and we’re going to do it one way or the other,” he said. “It’s an invasion,” he added. “We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country.”
According to the Associated Press, this declaration now enables him to divert 3.6 billion dollars that were previously budgeted for military construction projects to be used on the border wall. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
White House officials also claim Trump will also use more “traditional presidential budgetary discretion” to tap into $2.5 billion in financial resources that were originally promised to counter narcotics programs from a Treasury Department asset fund.
With all the monies combined, including $1.375 billion already authorized for fencing in a spending package passed by Congress last night, Trump would then have about $8 Billion in total to begin construction on the new barriers and replacement of existing barriers.
In turn, California Governor Gavin Newsome has announced that he will sue the Trump administration over this declaration of a national security on the southern border with Mexico, delivering on a promise State Attorney General Xavier Becerra made last week to “reject this foolish proposal in court the moment it touches the ground.”
Newsome and Becerra announced they are developing plans for legal action at a Capitol News conference just hours after Trump’s declaration.
“Fortunately Donald Trump is not the last word,” Newsom said. “The courts will be the last word,” Governor Newsome said.
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