NEW YORK, NY - This morning, President Trump declared a national state of emergency in order to justify federal funding for a wall along the United States Southern border.
The declaration will allow the President to divert billions of federal dollars to the construction of the border wall.
Steven Choi, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition, issued the following statement:
“President Trump’s temper-tantrum over building a wasteful and immoral border wall has risen to new heights – declaring a fake national state of emergency to keep a racist campaign promise. This decision not only jeopardizes the safety of thousands of asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border, but the integrity of our democracy. The strength of our nation is built from the values of providing refuge and opportunity to those who seek it, and the largest threat to that is the President himself.”
Background
Yesterday, Congress voted on a budget to keep the government open that includes $1.4 billion for the border – less than the $5.7 billion Trump demanded for his border wall.
On January 25th, President Trump signed an agreement to reopen the government for three weeks as budget negotiations continue, after forcing a 35-day shutdown over Congress’ refusal to include funding for a border wall the the budget. Close to 800,000 federal employees were either furloughed or forced to work without pay during the shutdown.
The President threatened that if Congress did not agree to fund a border wall by February 15th, 2019, he would declare a national state of emergency in order to secure the funding himself.
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