16 STATES SUE DONALD TRUMP OVER BORDER WALL EMERGENCY
Sixteen US States have sued US President Donald Trump over his plan to declare a national emergency to get funding for his controversial wall along the border with Mexico, saying he has veered the country toward a constitutional crisis of his own making.
The lawsuit came after Trump on Friday declared that he would spend billions of dollars more on border barriers than Congress had granted him.
The National Emergencies Act allows the President to declare a national emergency and unlock a stash of funds by invoking certain statutory authority.
The coalition of 16 states in their lawsuit alleged that the Trump administration's emergency declaration and diversion of funds is unconstitutional and otherwise unlawful.
The states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Virginia.
The suit, filed in Federal District Court in San Francisco, argues that the president does not have the power to divert funds for constructing a wall along the Mexican border because it is Congress that controls spending.
"President Trump has veered the country toward a constitutional crisis of his own making. For years, President Trump has repeatedly stated his intention to build a wall across the United States-Mexico border," reads the suit.
The dispute stems from steps Trump said he would take after lawmakers granted him only USD 1.375 billion for new border barriers, legislation he had signed last week to avoid another government shutdown. The fund is far short of the USD 5.7 billion Trump had initially requested.
Trump asserted the power to tap three additional pots of money on his own: USD 600 million from a Treasury Department asset forfeiture fund for law enforcement priorities; about USD 2.5 billion from a military antidrug account, most of which would first be siphoned from other military programs the Pentagon has yet to identify, and USD 3.6 billion in military construction funds he said he could redirect by invoking an emergency-powers statute.
The states allege that the Trump administration's action exceeds the power of the executive office, violates the US Constitution and federal statutes, and would illegally and unconstitutionally divert federal funds appropriated by Congress for other purposes.
The states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Virginia.