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US President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to fund the border wall project with Mexico, the White House announced.
He must sign a border security bill to avoid a government shutdown – but also bypbad Congress and use military funds for the wall, a statement said.
The senior Democrats reacted by accusing him of having committed a "flagrant abuse of power" and an "anarchic act".
Congress must first pbad the bill before it is signed by the president.
The construction of the wall was an essential election promise, but Trump has not yet been able to secure the necessary funding.
What did the White House say?
"The president is once again promising to build the wall, protect the border and secure our great country," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Thursday.
She added that he "would take other measures, including a national emergency – to ensure that we put an end to the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border".
Compromise legislation provides $ 1.3 billion in funding for border security, including physical barriers, but does not pay money for Mr Trump 's wall. Mr. Trump had asked for $ 5.7 billion for the wall.
When Trump warned that he could declare a national emergency over his wall earlier this year, some Republicans have argued that this would set a dangerous precedent.
The Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said Thursday that he supports the movement, saying the president was acting with "all the tools he could legally use to strengthen his efforts to secure the border."
By a vote of 83 to 16, the Senate on Thursday pbaded the Border Security Bill, which must now be submitted to the House of Representatives.
How did the Democrats react?
Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has already suggested that Democrats challenge the law if the president makes an urgent statement.
She and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also issued a joint statement strongly condemning the movement.
"Declaring a national emergency would be an anarchic act, a blatant abuse of presidential power and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his promise to make Mexico pay for his wall," he said. they said.
"He could not convince Mexico, the American people or their elected representatives to pay for his inefficient and expensive wall, so now he is trying a congressional trick in a desperate attempt to make taxpayers pay for it. "
The Democrats promised that the Congress would "defend our constitutional authorities".
What is a national emergency?
The state of emergency is declared in times of crisis. In this case, Mr Trump said the crisis was caused by migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border.
According to experts, the declaration of a national emergency would give the president access to special powers allowing him to bypbad the usual political process.
He would be able to divert money from existing military or disaster relief budgets to pay for the wall.
However, there is some debate as to whether the situation on the southern border of the United States is such an emergency.
On the one hand, more than 2,000 people were turned back or arrested at the border every day in November alone. Supporters say this equates to an emergency.
Others claim that the figure is well below what it was a decade ago and that many of the thousands of people who have traveled north from countries like Honduras present themselves as asylum seekers seeking to legally enter the country.
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