Trump Declares National Emergency
President Trump declared a national emergency on February 14th after he signed a budget deal passed by Congress to fund the government through the end of September. President Trump declared the national emergency in order to get funding from other government agencies for his border wall.
The budget deal included only $1.35 billion for a steel fencing along 55 miles of the border of the Rio Grande Valley, instead of the $5.7 billion dollars that the president has demanded. The bill does however include additional money to build a new facility in El Paso to hold families arriving at the border seeking asylum.
By declaring the national emergency, the president is attempting to use the $3.6 billion currently reserved for military construction in order to build the wall. In addition, the president plans to seize $600 millions currently in the Department of Justice and $2.5 billion dollars from the Department of Defense.
There have been a number of agencies that have announced they will file lawsuits against the president’s declaration.