President Donald Trump, citing an “invasion” of drugs and criminals, declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border on Friday to fund construction of his long-sought wall, a move slammed by Democrats as an unlawful “power grab.”
Bypassing Congress, which approved far less money for his proposed wall than he had sought, Trump said he would use executive action to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for the wall, aides said.
“I’m going to be signing a national emergency,” Trump said. According to White House officials, the declaration will allow Trump to redirect $3.6 billion from the military, $2.5 billion from counter-narcotics programs, and $600 million from the Treasury to build a border wall that Congress refused to fund.
Democrats were only willing to agree to around $US1.4 billion for border security as part of legislation Mr Trump signed this afternoon to keep the US government funded and prevent another shutdown. He has now turned to a more drastic solution to achieve his goal.
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