ACLU Comment on Trump Administration Announcing Military Construction Funds for Border Wall

September 3, 2019 6:15 pm

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will reportedly divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects for President Trump’s border wall. The funds were first identified by the president in February when declaring a national emergency to secure funding for a wall along the southern border. The administration had not yet detailed its plans for the military construction funds and no court has yet weighed in on the legality of these particular funds.

The American Civil Liberties Union today announced that it would seek a court order blocking use of the funds as part of its lawsuit challenging the president’s abuse of emergency powers to secure funds for a wall Congress denied.

Dror Ladin, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, issued the following statement:

“The fact that the government sat on these so-called ‘emergency funds’ for seven months further confirms that this is nothing but an unlawful power grab. We’ll be back in court very soon to block Trump’s latest effort to raid military funds for his xenophobic wall.”

Additional information on the case is here: https://www.aclu.org/cases/sierra-club-v-trump-challenge-trumps-national-emergency-declaration-construct-border-wall.

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