Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Sunday he believes President Trump calling a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border is within the limits of legality.
The Louisiana lawmaker expressed regret that Congress wasn’t able to find a legislative solution to satisfy the demands of the White House on the border wall, but said that he is continues to support Trump because declarative powers have already been ceded to the executive branch by Congress.
“It wasn’t my preferred choice [Trump using executive power]. I would have preferred to have Congress do its job. Now not all my colleagues agree with me, but I do believe that we have a problem at the border. We have a crisis at the border,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “We have had in my judgment, a 15-year bipartisan refusal here in Washington, D.C., by both big government Republicans and Ritz-Carlton Democrats to refuse to enforce America’s immigration laws. Trump’s enforcing them.”
“To some of my Democratic friends, there’s no — they make no distinction between legal and illegal immigration. If you disagree with them, you’re a racist. I believe that legal immigration makes our country stronger. I believe that illegal immigration undermines legal immigration. I believe that illegal immigration is illegal,” Kennedy added.
House Democrats passed a resolution last week to block Trump from using executive power to declare a national emergency with the help of 13 Republicans. The bill is widely expected to be vetoed by Trump should it get to his desk and the bill’s ability to get to veto-proof status is questionable at best.
Some Republicans instead have been quietly trying to convince the White House to gather the funds from various nationwide budgets without declaring a national emergency.
“As I understand it, he has the ability, without resorting to a national emergency, he can put together $4.5 billion, maybe $5 billion,” Kennedy said.
