The American Civil Liberties Union said Friday it will sue the Trump administration next week over its decision to declare a national emergency to fund hundreds of miles of border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
The American Civil Liberties Union announced hours after President Trump’s remarks in the White House Rose Garden Friday morning that it is drafting a challenge.
“By the president’s very own admission in the Rose Garden, there is no national emergency. He just grew impatient and frustrated with Congress, and decided to move along his promise for a border wall ‘faster,'” ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement. “This is a patently illegal power grab that hurts American communities and flouts the checks and balances that are hallmarks of our democracy.”
“We will be filing a lawsuit early next week,” the group added. “As the country’s premier defender of civil liberties and civil rights, the ACLU will always fight to ensure a robust system of checks and balances on the power of the executive, which is critical to safeguarding our democracy and defending rights.”
The ACLU will argue that Trump’s national emergency is “unprecedented” because the National Emergencies Act only makes funding available for military construction projects, not a border wall.
“The Constitution assigns Congress the power of the purse, and no prior president has ever tried to use emergency powers to fund a chosen project — particularly a permanent, large-scale domestic project such as this — against congressional will. This is obviously improper,” said ACLU’s National Security Project staff attorney, Dror Ladin.
[Also read: DOJ warns Trump that border national emergency declaration will be blocked by courts]
A number of immigration groups also criticized the Trump administration Friday for the decision and said the president is trying to create the illusion of a border crisis to justify emergency spending on a wall between the United States and Mexico.
The White House plans to use $6.6 billion in previously-appropriated funding to build 234 more miles of barrier along the southern border after Congress only gave him $1.375 billion, roughly one-quarter of the $5.7 billion he requested in December.
Trump opted to use $600 million from the Treasury Department’s drug forfeiture fund, $2.5 billion from the Defense Department’s drug interdiction program, and $3.5 billion from a military construction fund.
Since 1976, presidents have cited their authority under the National Emergencies Act 59 times to approve and fund executive projects that were a matter of national security, an administration official said.
