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ACLU to Challenge New Border Wall Funds Transfer

Case: Sierra Club v. Trump — Challenge to Trump’s National Emergency Declaration to Construct a Border Wall
February 13, 2020 2:45 pm
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NEW YORK — The Trump administration today reportedly notified lawmakers that it would transfer an additional $3.8 billion in military funds for the president’s border wall.

Below is comment from Dror Ladin, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, in response:

“Multiple courts have ruled that it is illegal for Trump to pillage military funds for his xenophobic border wall. Not one court has given his unlawful power grab the stamp of approval. We’ll be back in court to block these additional, unauthorized transfers.”

The ACLU will ask a federal court to block the additional transfers as part of its lawsuit, Sierra Club v. Trump, on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition. The lawsuit challenges President Trump’s abuse of emergency powers to secure border wall funds Congress, exercising its constitutional powers, explicitly denied.

As the Sierra Club and SBCC long warned would happen, construction of President Trump’s border wall is currently desecrating ancestral and burial lands, destroying protected landscapes, and threatening wildlife.

Trump Declaring National Emergency

Sierra Club v. Trump — Challenge to Trump’s National Emergency Declaration to Construct a Border Wall

In February 2019, the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s emergency powers declaration to secure funds to build a wall along the southern border. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition. The lawsuit argues that the president is usurping Congress’s appropriations power and threatening the clearly defined separation of powers inscribed in the Constitution. On January 20, 2021, President Biden halted further border wall construction. Litigation in this and subsequent related challenges has been paused or deadlines extended while the ACLU’s clients and the Biden administration determine next steps.

Source: American Civil Liberties Union

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