Donald Trump to declare national emergency to get funding to build Mexico border wall

Ella Wills15 February 2019

US President Donald Trump has said he will declare a national emergency to gain funding to fulfill his pledge to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

The president made the announcement during a press conference at the White House on Friday.

He said he will use executive powers to bypass Congress, which approved far less money for his proposed wall than he had sought.

Mr Trump had demanded $5.7 billion for the wall, however lawmakers on Thursday voted to fund just $1.4 billion for border barriers.

The president told reporters that he plans to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for the wall.

Mr Trump also said US trade with the UK will rise "very substantially" after Brexit.

"I am going to be signing a national emergency," Mr Trump said from the Rose Garden today, as he claimed illegal immigration marked "an invasion of our country".

On Thursday, Congress voted to fund large portions of the government in a bid to avoid a repeat of the nation's recent five-week shutdown.

Mr Trump in the Rose Garden today
AFP/Getty Images

The money included in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, was far below the amount Mr Trump had insisted he needed.

It would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles (322 kilometers) of the wall he wanted built this year.

A construction crew works as new sections of the US-Mexico border barrier are installed
Getty Images

To bridge the gap, Mr Trump announced today that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers - combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including the national emergency.

The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and counterdrug efforts, but aides could not immediately specify which military projects would be affected.

Mr Trump said he would sign the final papers on the national emergency following the press conference.

But he said the process could be delayed due to expected legal proceedings against the declaration.

Vehicles cross the International Bridge I to Eagle Pass, Texas from Coahuila State, Mexico
AFP/Getty Images

“We will then be sued,” after signing the declaration, he said.

“And we will possibly get a bad ruling. And then we’ll end up in the Supreme Court.”

The president added that he should not be sued but insisted that "we will be very successful in court".

He said: "Sadly, we'll be sued and sadly it will go through a process and happily we'll win."

Expanding on his national emergency plans, Mr Trump said he was building the wall due to an influx of drugs coming across the border.

“It’s a great thing to do because we have an invasion of drugs, invasion of drugs invasion of people and its unacceptable,” Mr Trump said.

He added: "It’s not like its complicated its very simple we want to stop drugs from coming into our country. We want to stop criminals and gangs from coming into our country."

Critics have called the measure unconstitutional as they accused Mr Trump of abusing his authority.

In an unusual joint statement, House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats, said such a declaration would be "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract" from Mr Trump's failure to force Mexico to pay for the wall, as he has promised for years.

"Congress will defend our constitutional authorities," they said. They declined to say whether that meant lawsuits or votes on resolutions to prevent Mr Trump from unilaterally shifting money to wall-building, with aides saying they would wait to see what he does.

Democratic state attorney generals said they would consider legal action to block Mr Trump.

Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rossello told the president on Twitter "we'll see you in court" if he makes the declaration.

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