President declares emergency at border

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP (Gage Simon photo).

A national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border was declared Friday by President Donald Trump, a move that Congressional Democrats and others vowed to block.

In a speech from the Rose Garden at the White House, Trump said “We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border. We’re talking about an invasion of our country with drugs, human traffickers, with all kinds of criminals and gangs. We need [a] new wall.”

The action is intended as a way to fund the promised barrier on the southwest border without the consent of Congress. In a national emergency, the president can transfer already-allocated money from other executive departments. Trump demanded $5.7 billion for the wall, but legislators demurred.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a joint statement, called the president’s action unconstitutional and promised to fight it in court and in Congress.
“The president’s unlawful declaration over a crisis that does not exist does great violence to our Constitution and makes America less safe, stealing from urgently needed defense funds for the security of our military and our nation,” the statement read.