Judge urged to rule fast on bids to block funds for wall

SAN FRANCISCO — President Donald Trump is moving fast to build a wall on the Mexico border with billions of dollars secured under his declaration of a national emergency, but he first must get past the courts.

On Friday, a federal judge in Oakland heard arguments in two lawsuits seeking to block the White House from spending money from the Defense and Treasury departments for the project.

California and 19 other states filed one lawsuit; the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, filed the other.

The plaintiffs asked U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam to block the shifting of funds and construction on the wall. They want a quick decision, arguing that some of the Pentagon-funded projects could begin in eight days.

Gilliam said he will issue a decision next week.

In another case, a federal judge in Washington will consider Thursday a bid by the House to prevent Trump from spending any Defense Department money for a border wall.

At stake is billions of dollars that would allow Trump to make major progress on the wall heading into his campaign for a second term.

The president’s adversaries say the emergency declaration was an illegal attempt to ignore Congress, which authorized far less wall spending than Trump wanted.

Trump grudgingly accepted congressional approval of $1.375 billion to end a 35-day government shutdown on Feb. 15 and declared the emergency shortly thereafter. The White House says it has identified up to $8.1 billion that it could spend on the project.

Trump’s actions “amount to a usurpation of Congress’ legislative powers in violation of bedrock separation of powers principles embedded in the Constitution,” the state attorneys general wrote.

The administration argues that Trump is protecting national security as unprecedented numbers of Central American asylum-seeking families arrive at the U.S. border.

“The increasing surge of migrants, the highest in over a decade, has placed a tremendous strain on the limited resources of the Department of Homeland Security and exacerbated the risks to border security, public safety, and the safety of the migrants themselves,” the Justice Department said in a court filing.

The courtroom showdowns come during a flurry of activity to accelerate wall construction.

The Defense Department transferred $1 billion to border wall coffers in March and another $1.5 billion last week. Patrick Shanahan, acting defense secretary, may decide next week whether to transfer an additional $3.6 billion.

On Wednesday, Barnard Construction Co. of Bozeman, Mont., won a $141.8 million contract to replace 5 miles in Yuma and 15 miles in the El Centro, Calif., sector.

Southwest Valley Constructors of Albuquerque, N.M., won a $646 million contract to replace 63 miles in the Tucson, Ariz., sector.