US government sued over plan on border wall
LOS ANGELES — California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Wednesday announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s plan to build a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico.
Becerra filed the suit in San Diego, a southern Californian city on the border between the two countries, focusing on halting the construction of a wall in San Diego and the replacement of barriers there and in Calexico, another border city in Imperial County of California.
According to the 53-page indictment, the defendants are the United States of America, the United States Department of Homeland Security, former DHS secretary John Kelly, acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke, the United States Customs and Border Protection and acting CBP Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan.
The complaint accuses them of violating the US Constitution, failing to comply with federal and state environmental laws, and resorting to a federal statute that does not authorize the proposed projects.
It also says President Donald Trump should take responsibility for the illegal constructions.
“As a presidential candidate, and subsequently as president, President Trump has repeatedly stated his intent to build a wall across the entire United States border with Mexico,” the document said.
It mentioned that on Jan 25, Trump issued an executive order directing the DHS to “allocate all sources of federal funds for the planning, designing and construction of a physical wall along the southern border”.
“The Trump administration has once again ignored laws it doesn’t like in order to resuscitate a campaign talking point to build a wall on our southern border,” Becerra said on Wednesday.
“President Trump has yet to pivot from candidate Trump to leader of a nation built on the rule of law. That’s dangerous. When you respect the law, you instill confidence and certainty in your people, so critical for success,” he said.
Trump’ promise
Trump promised during his presidential campaign that his administration would build a wall along the border with Mexico to stop illegal immigration and curb the crime rate in the United States. However, his opponents say building a wall is xenophobic and racist.
There are already around 1,100 kilometers of fencing along the 3,380-km long border between the two countries, according to a report issued by the DHS. Building a border wall would cost $21.6 billion and take three and a half years.
Wednesday’s lawsuit is the latest move by Californian politicians who are determined to stand against Trump’s policy. Many Californian cities have passed bills to prohibit contractors involved in the border wall project from obtaining any state contracts.
However, Trump pledged to continue his border wall scheme, calling it “absolutely necessary”. During a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, in August, he threatened to shut down the US federal government if Congress did not present him with a spending bill for the next fiscal year that included funding for a wall on the southern border.