The Pentagon authorizes a billion dollars for the construction of a fence at the Mexican border: NPR

The Pentagon has officially informed Congress of the allocation of appropriate $ 1 billion for the construction of a 57 km fence and other projects on the southern border of the United States. The announcement came after President Trump had taken the rare step of declaring a national emergency to obtain more funds for border security than Congress allows.

Trump vetoed Congress's attempt to reverse his emergency declaration earlier this month, allowing his administration to implement controversial plans to keep his election promise to build a wall on along the border with Mexico and fight against illegal immigration. The Chamber is ready to vote on a possible derogation to this veto on Tuesday.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan told the US Army Corps of Engineers to begin using this money to support the operations of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Patrol of the United States Army. Customs and Borders, announced the Department of Defense.

This money will almost double the $ 1.3 billion allowed by Congress for the financing of the Border Wall. Trump had asked for $ 5.7 billion. A statement from the Pentagon on the move did not say what part of its budget would bring in the $ 1 billion for the project.

In a counter-intuitive press release entitled "DOD allows support to fight drug security at borders", the agency announced:

"These funds will be used to support DHS's request to construct 57 km of 18 foot high pedestrian fences, build and improve roads and install lighting in the Yuma and Yuma border areas. from El Paso, in support of the February 15 national emergency declaration at the southern border of the United States ".

The Pentagon press release then quotes 10 United States of America. § 284 (b) (7) – the federal law that gives it the power to construct fences and take other measures to support federal law enforcement agencies that fight against trafficking drug.

Shanahan is expected to discuss the project to build the border on Capitol Hill Tuesday, while he explains in detail how the Defense Department spends more than $ 717 billion in its budget for the current fiscal year.

The Trump administration has considered building more fences or walls despite critics who claimed that it created a dangerous precedent by invoking presidential power to override the congressional funding authority – and that the border crisis has more to do with rights issues than drugs.

After Trump vetoed the attempt to cancel his emergency declaration, he tweeted, "This will help stop the crime, human trafficking and drugs that are entering our country. ".

Despite the president's statements, several governors ordered their National Guard troops to leave the border, saying that there was no security crisis. And many mayors in US cities along the southwestern border say their communities are among the safest in the country, citing statistics on FBI crime and other measures.

"Send social workers to process the asylum seekers, not the soldiers," said Mayor Jim Darling of McAllen, Texas, as reported by NPR in a speech by the president's speech on the issue. Wall. Eddie Trevino, Cameron County Judge in Brownsville, said: "It's a misconception that the border is not secure.There is no invasion in Central America It's an invented crisis. "

Last week, US border officials announced a new policy in Texas, saying agents would no longer hold families of migrants crossing the border into the undocumented Rio Grande Valley. Instead, the agents will release these migrants and order them to go to court for deportation or asylum proceedings. The officials said that they were acting in the concern of overcrowding and security.

In December, two Guatemalan children who crossed the border illegally died in custody in the United States after being detained in separate incidents in New Mexico.