The national emergency decreed by the president, Donald Trump, for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico without the support of Congress is subject to a lawsuit that can block the obtaining of funds and has faced pressure from several sectors of the country.
“The vast majority of Americans know that there is no national emergency on the border, and Trump said: ‘I do not need to do this,'” the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the opposition party’s secretariat, said in a statement today.
In that document, the DNC cited several surveys that point out that a good part of the citizens do not consider that the decision to proclaim this type of declaration has been correct by the president.
Among others, he mentions a poll by the National Public Radio (NPR) published on Tuesday that points out that more than 60% of Americans do not approve Trump’s executive order to declare the emergency.
The same percentage believes that there is no national emergency on the southern border with Mexico and that Trump “is abusing his presidential authority,” according to the researchers.
“Everything related to the declaration of this national emergency has had a very bad reception from public opinion,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, in charge of conducting the NPR survey.
Beyond the apparent public rejection, Trump’s decision last Friday has already been disputed at the judicial level.
A lawsuit led by California Attorney General, Democrat Xavier Becerra, was filed Monday in the Northern District Court of California, which in January 2018 ordered Trump to reactivate the DACA program, which protects 690,000 from deportation. undocumented youth known as “dreamers”, and continue to receive renewal requests.
In addition to the legal action, the attorneys general of the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia joined.
This lawsuit from 16 states can open a judicial process that will probably drag on for several months, during which Trump’s decree is expected to remain blocked, so the White House could not use funds it has identified to build the border barrier.
Trump responded to the injunction today with criticism of the states that participate in it and recalled that he had already anticipated that this would happen before signing the national emergency declaration.
“As I predicted, 16 states, led mainly by open border democrats and the radical left, have filed a lawsuit in, of course, the Ninth Circuit of California!” Trump wrote in his Twitter account.
Also, the president was convinced that his defense team will do a good job to defend his statement.
“I think we will do very well, I have the absolute right to declare a national emergency,” Trump told reporters at the White House today.
Faced with the president’s criticisms, prosecutor Becerra reacted today in the same social network warning Trump that the coalition he leads will continue working to block his order.
“President Trump, keep talking … We will continue gathering evidence to support our claim against you,” said Becerra.
On the other hand, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), among other civil organizations, has announced that it will file a lawsuit in the coming days against this decision, which it has described as “obviously improper”.
The declaration of “national emergency” allows presidents temporary access to a special power to face a crisis, and Trump signed it last Friday to ensure that there is an “invasion” of drugs and criminals on the border with Mexico that justifies extraordinary measures.
With this decree, Trump intends to collect 6.6 billion dollars deviated from various items already approved by Congress, which would be added to another 1.375 granted by the legislature to build the border barrier.
The Democratic opposition considers the measure an “illegal” interference in the exclusive power of Congress to determine the budgets and there is information that suggests that the majority of Democrats in the Lower House will present a resolution against the declaration (EFEUSA). –
