California to sue Trump over national emergency declaration

CALIFORNIA is set to become the first state to legally challenge Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to secure funding for a border wall, its attorney general said yesterday.

After a failed attempt to convince Congress to sign off on his demand for $5.7 billion (£4.4 billion) to build a structure along the southern border with Mexico, the president announced that he would be invoking the controversial emergency power on Friday.

By doing so, he is now theoretically able to siphon off money – up to $8 billion – from government departments to fulfil his key campaign pledge.

However, it was long expected that the move would be slowed down and possibly torpedoed by legal challenges. Already, Texas landowners have filed suits saying it violates the constitution and would infringe property rights.

Yesterday, Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, signalled that the Golden State would lead the way, arguing that money directed to the wall project would mean less federal funding for vital services for emergency responses, the military and tackling drug trafficking. When asked if or when California would sue the Trump administration, he replied: “Definitely and imminently. We are prepared, we knew something like this might happen,” he told ABC’S This Week. “We’re confident there are at least eight billion ways that we can prove harm.”

Other Democrat-controlled states are expected to join the action and Democrats in the House of Representatives have said they will introduce a resolution to block the declaration. Ultimately, the legal battle will probably end at the conservative-leaning Supreme Court to which Mr Trump has appointed two justices since he took office.

Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser, told Fox News that the state of emergency declaration would allow Trump to build “hundreds of miles” of border wall by September 2020. He also suggested the administration would veto Congress should there be any resolution to block the emergency declaration.

“Obviously, the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration. This (illegal immigration) is a threat in our country… and if the president can’t defend this country, then he cannot fulfil his constitutional oath of office,” he added.