SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A federal judge has prevented President Donald Trump from building key sections of his border wall with the money obtained through his national emergency declaration, delivering what could be said. prove to be a temporary setback for one of its highest priorities.
The order of US District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr., rendered Friday, prevents the start of work on two of the largest wall projects funded by the Pentagon – one spanning 74 kilometers at New Mexico and the other on 8 km. kilometers) to Yuma, Arizona.
On Saturday, Trump is committed to filing an expedited appeal for the decision.
Trump, visiting Japan, tweeted: "Another judge, appointed by President Obama, has just ruled against us on a section of the South Wall that is already under construction.It is a judgment against border security. and in favor of crime, drugs and human trafficking, we are calling for an expedited appeal! "
Although Gilliam's order only applies to these prominent projects, the judge made it clear that he believed the plaintiffs would probably override their pleadings as per which the president would ignore wrongly the wishes of Congress by diverting money from the Department of Defense.
"The" absolute "control of the Congress on federal spending, even when this control can thwart the executive's desire for the initiatives it deems important, is not a bug in our constitutional system. 39 is a characteristic of this system, and essential, "he wrote. in his 56-page opinion.
This was not a total defeat for the administration. Gilliam, appointed by President Barack Obama in Oakland, has rejected a request from California and 19 other states to prevent the misappropriation of funds for confiscation of Treasury assets of several hundred million dollars intended for construction of walls, partly because he felt that they probably would not prevail. on the arguments that the administration has avoided studies of environmental impact.
The delay can be temporary. Gilliam wondered if she would allow construction with Defense and Treasury funds while the lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and state attorneys general would be investigated. Cases still have to be heard on the merits.
"This order is a victory for our system of checks and balances, the rule of law and border communities," said Dror Ladin, an ACLU lawyer who represented the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday.
The administration faces several lawsuits for the emergency declaration, but only one other seeks to block the construction during the court challenge. A judge in Washington, DC, on Thursday heard arguments about a challenge by the US House of Representatives that the transfer of money violated the constitution. The judge wondered whether lawmakers even had the ability to sue the president instead of engaging politically to resolve the bitter dispute.
Billions of dollars are at stake, which would allow Trump to advance in the promise of a signature campaign before the campaign for a second term.
Trump declared a national emergency in February after losing a fight against the House led by the Democratic Party, resulting in the closure of the government for 35 days. As a compromise on border and immigration enforcement, Congress has earmarked $ 1.375 billion to expand or replace existing gates in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, the largest corridor in the world. busy for illegal crossings.
Trump reluctantly accepted the money, but then declared the national emergency to siphon money from other government accounts, identifying up to $ 8.1 billion for the construction of walls. The funds include $ 3.6 billion from military-build funds, $ 2.5 billion from the Department of Defense's anti-drug activities, and $ 600 million from the Confiscation Fund. Assets of the Treasury Department.
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President Trump visits prototypes of border wall during protests
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On March 13, 2018, US President Donald Trump presents border wall prototypes in San Diego, California. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should match MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images)
People hold placards at a protest as they stand in front of the current security fence and near prototypes of US President Donald Trump's border wall in Tijuana, Mexico on March 13. 2018. The right panel says "Trump, the walls can be crossed". REUTERS / Edgard Garrido
On March 13, 2018, US President Donald Trump inspects prototypes of border walls in San Diego, California. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should match MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images)
People post a sign stating "Trump, stop mass deportations" on the current fence and near the prototypes of the border wall of US President Donald Trump, during a protest in Tijuana, Mexico on March 13, 2018. REUTERS / Edgard Garrido
The procession of US President Donald Trump arrives at the border fence in San Diego, California on March 13, 2018. / PHOTO AFP / MANDEL NGAN (The photo credit should match MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images)
People carry signs saying "No to the wall" and "Trump, place your wall, but on your territory, not on ours," during a protest near the prototypes of the border wall of US President Donald Trump , seen behind the border fence Tijuana, Mexico, March 13, 2018. REUTERS / Edgard Garrido
On March 13, 2018, President of the United States, Donald Trump, in San Diego, California, prototypes of the border wall with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly San Diego. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Credit: MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images
A man holds a sign saying "Trump, put your wall, but on your territory, not on ours," during a protest near the prototypes of the border wall of US President Donald Trump, seen behind the fence of the border, in Tijuana, Mexico, March 13, 2018. REUTERS / Edgard Garrido
US President Donald Trump arrives in San Diego, California, to inspect the prototype border walls on March 13, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should match MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images)
People carry placards stating "No to the wall, Trump" and "Trump, we are not enemies of the United States" during a protest near the prototypes of the border wall of US President Donald Trump, seen behind the current security fence in Tijuana, Mexico. March 13, 2018. REUTERS / Edgard Garrido
President of the United States, Donald Trump, speaking at a prototype prototypes of walls in San Diego, California on March 13, 2018.
Donald Trump – on his first trip to California as president – warned that "there would be a" chaos "without the controversial wall that he wants to build on the border with Mexico, while it's not a big deal. he inspected several prototypes of barriers. The trip to the "Golden State" – the country's most populous and democratic fortress – was largely upset by his own announcement that he had dismissed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
/ AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit must match MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images)
Mexican federal policemen stand guard on the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, in the state of Baja California, from where prototypes of the border wall are visible, as US President Donald Trump inspect on the outskirts of San Diego, United States. March 13, 2018.
After a cabinet reshuffle, President Donald Trump visited the California Democrat Fortress Tuesday to inspect prototypes of the controversial wall with Mexico, the centerpiece of his White House campaign. / AFP PHOTO / GUILLERMO ARIAS (The photo credit should correspond to GUILLERMO ARIAS / AFP / Getty Images)
People carry signs saying "Trump, we will not pay for the wall" and "Trump, stop massive deportations" near the barrier between Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico, on March 13, 2018. REUTERS / Edgard Garrido
Journalists gather on a roof near the US-Mexico border while President Trump is expected to inspect the border wall prototypes built around the San Diego suburb of Tijuana, in the state of Baja California, in Mexico, on March 13, 2018.
After a cabinet reshuffle, President Donald Trump visited the California Democrat Fortress Tuesday to inspect prototypes of the controversial wall with Mexico, the centerpiece of his White House campaign. / AFP PHOTO / GUILLERMO ARIAS (The photo credit should correspond to GUILLERMO ARIAS / AFP / Getty Images)
US policemen use a ladder to get into a truck parked in front of the prototypes of US President Donald Trump's border wall, on the US side of the current border fence, in Tijuana, Mexico, on March 13, 2018. REUTERS / Jorge Duenes
An officer faces Mexico as he stood near the vehicle of US President Donald Trump at the border near San Diego, California, where he examined prototypes of walls designed to serve as a protective barrier against illegal immigrants, drugs and contraband, March 13, 2018. REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque
US Border and Border Protection Officer (CBP) sits on horseback near US President Donald Trump's procession on a guided tour of border wall prototypes Mexican-American near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, California. United States, March 13, 2018. REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque
TIJUANA, MEXICO – MARCH 13: Anti-Trump protesters demonstrate on the Mexican border before the arrival of the US president to inspect prototypes of the proposed border wall on March 13, 2018 in Tijuana, Mexico. (Photo by Wally Skalij / The Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The procession of cars carrying US President Donald Trump passes a fence at the US-Mexico border as Trump goes to inspect wall prototypes in San Diego, CA on March 13. 2018.
Donald Trump – on his first trip to California as president – warned that "there would be a" chaos "without the controversial wall that he wants to build on the border with Mexico, while it's not a big deal. he inspected several prototypes of barriers. The trip to the "Golden State" – the country's most populous and democratic fortress – was largely upset by his own announcement that he had dismissed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
/ AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit must match MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images)
Mounted Border Patrol officers are seen as US President Donald Trump inspects prototype walls in San Diego, California on March 13, 2018.
Donald Trump – on his first trip to California as president – warned that "there would be a" chaos "without the controversial wall that he wants to build on the border with Mexico, while it's not a big deal. he inspected several prototypes of barriers. The trip to the "Golden State" – the country's most populous and democratic fortress – was largely upset by his own announcement that he had dismissed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
/ AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit must match MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump inspects wall prototypes in San Diego, California on March 13, 2018.
Donald Trump – on his first trip to California as president – warned that "there would be a" chaos "without the controversial wall that he wants to build on the border with Mexico, while it's not a big deal. he inspected several prototypes of barriers. The trip to the "Golden State" – the country's most populous and democratic fortress – was largely upset by his own announcement that he had dismissed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
/ AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit must match MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump waving a poster before and after photos of a segment of the border wall prototypes with Chief Patrol Officer Rodney S. Scott (right) in San Diego, California, March 13, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit must match MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images)
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The Department of Defense has already transferred the counter-drug. Patrick Shanahan, Acting Defense Secretary, is expected to decide daily whether or not to transfer funds from military construction.
Opponents of the president said the emergency declaration was an illegal attempt to ignore Congress, which allowed much less spending on walls than Trump wanted. The administration said Trump was protecting national security as an unprecedented number of asylum-seeker families in Central America arrived at the US border.
The administration has awarded 11 contracts totaling $ 2.76 billion – three of which in the last two months are based on counter-drug funds from the Department of Defense – and is preparing for a series of construction works that the president is already celebrating during campaign type rallies.
The Army Corps recently announced several important contacts with funding from the Pentagon. Last month, SLSCO Ltd. from Galveston, Texas, won a $ 789 million prize to replace a 46-kilometer barrier in New Mexico – the one Gilliam blocked on Friday.
Last week, Southwest Valley Constructors of Albuquerque, New Mexico, won a $ 646 million prize to replace 63 miles (101 kilometers) in the Tucson, Arizona, border patrol area that Gilliam did not interrupt. Barnard Construction Co. of Bozeman, Montana, won a $ 141.8 million contract for the replacement of 8 miles at Yuma blocked by Gilliam and 24 kilometers at El Centro, California, which it did not to have a reference to.
Gilliam's decision gives the green light – at least for the moment – to the administration that uses the Treasury funds, which she intends to use to expand the barriers in the Rio Grande Valley.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Democrat and Frequent Opponent of Trump, did not comment directly on his defeat, but congratulated the ACLU and its clients "for getting this crucial win for our states and our communities ".
Trump inherited barriers covering 1,046 kilometers, about one-third of the Mexican border. More than half of the awarded contracts (390 kilometers) in contracts awarded are in Pentagon money. Until now, all kilometers allocated, with the exception of 14 miles, must replace existing barriers and not expand coverage.
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