By Breanna Prater
February 20, 2018
President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday, February 15th to fund the proposed wall along the US - Mexico border after Congress denied his request for $5.7 billion of funding. This is a political move that has garnered responses from both sides of the aisle, especially since Congress did not ignore the border in the 2019 budget bill passed on Thursday, February 14th. As CNBC explains that Congress allocated $1.375 billion from the Department of Homeland Security budget to build a fence along 55 miles of the border where DHS officers have requested a barrier. After signing the the executive order, President Trump intends to appropriate an $8 billion budget for the wall by pulling from the Department of Defense, military construction budget, and money allocated towards the war on drugs.
This political move plunged the nation from one crisis to another. Business Insider elaborates that the government is up and running again thanks to a 1,159 pages long bipartisan bill written by members of both houses. However, a day after this victory, instead of inciting another government shutdown, the President declares a state of emergency - not because the nation is at war or to help the 800,000 Americans who went five weeks without a job. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency because he did not get the $5.7 billion of border funding he wanted for his wall. This national emergency has more in common with a child’s tantrum than an actual crisis. Which is why the NYT wrote “The president has crossed a red line, and the people know it.” And the nation is responding.
Declaring a national emergency for the sole purpose of building a wall along the US - Mexico border is at best an unpopular political move, and at worst, unconstitutional. According to USA Today, The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Tuesday declaring the national emergency non-existent. And Time Magazine ads that there are currently four legal cases against the so called national emergency. NPR illustrates that one of the lawsuits is a joint sue of sixteen states vs. The President. The plethora of suits questioning the legality of declaring a national emergency sheds negative light on both the president and the controversial barrier. The only national emergency is that our Commander in Chief thinks he can shutdown the government, throw a fit, and sign a piece of paper to bypass checks and balances and get his way.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Infuse Student Media or Southwest Baptist University.
Kommentare