On Feb. 15, President Donald Trump made an address from the White House Rose Garden. The President declared a national emergency because of the alleged humanitarian crisis on the southern border.
That crisis, according to the president, is due to “open borders [that] have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities. They have allowed millions of low-wage workers to compete for jobs and wages against the poorest Americans. Most tragically, they have caused the loss of many innocent lives.”
Prior to the national emergency, a bipartisan deal, including $1.3 billion to fund border security, was reached in Congress. President Trump says the money given to him by Congress isn’t enough to build the wall and that, “We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border, and we’re going to do it one way or the other.”
That other way is to allocate a total of $8 billion from the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, the Treasury Department’s Drug Forfeiture Fund, the Department of Defense’s Drug Interdiction Program and the Department of Defense’s Military Construction Account toward building the wall.
Also, the Department of Defense announced earlier this month that they will be deploying an additional 3,750 troops to the border to help with the construction.
Under the National Emergency Act, there is no definition for what constitutes a national emergency. Under the act, the president has access to 136 distinct statutory emergency powers, of which only 13 require congressional oversight. The purpose of this is to allow the president to make decisions and take necessary actions that could take Congress too long to discuss.
In response to the state of emergency declaration, sixteen states, led by California and New York, have filed lawsuits in the 9th circuit against President Trump.
House Democrats were quick to publicly condemn the declaration and draft a resolution to end the national emergency that they believe to be fake. As soon as the House of Representatives votes, the Senate is required by law to vote on it within 18 days. According to the National Emergency Act, if Congress passes a joint bill it would then go to the president to sign, and then the emergency would be terminated.
However, the White House has said that President Trump will use his veto power to stop any joint resolution to end the national emergency. If that is the case, Congress may not have the support needed to get the ⅔ majority required to overturn a veto.
The Watchdog Newspaper will continue to provide updates as details surface.