National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States

The National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States (Proclamation 9844) was declared on February 15, 2019, by President of the United States Donald Trump. Citing the National Emergencies Act, it ordered the diversion of billions of dollars of funds that had been appropriated to the U.S. Department of Defense for military construction.[1][2] Trump declared the emergency after he signed, but derided, a bipartisan funding bill (passed by the House and the Senate a day before) containing border security funding without funding for the border wall that Trump demanded.[2][3]

Trump had previously threatened to declare a national emergency if Congress did not pass his entire desired program for a wall on the United States–Mexican border by February 15, 2019.[4] Under Proclamation 9844, the Trump administration intended to redirect $8 billion in previously-agreed expenditure and to use the money to build the wall instead.[5][6][7] Under Trump's plan, $3.6 billion assigned to military construction, $2.5 billion meant for the Department of Defense's drug interdiction activities, and $600 million from the Treasury's forfeiture fund would be diverted for wall construction.[5][6][7] Trump's declaration was unprecedented in that none of the 58 previous emergency declarations made by U.S. presidents involved circumventing Congress to spend money it had expressly refused to authorize or allocate.[8][9]

Trump's declaration of a national emergency was condemned by Democrats as unconstitutional; U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the declaration an affront to the rule of law that was "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall."[10] Some Republicans also criticized Trump's declaration, fearing that circumventing Congress would set a dangerous precedent for the future.[10] Congress passed a joint resolution to terminate the national emergency, but it was vetoed by Trump; this was his first veto.[11]

Trump's declaration of a national emergency was immediately challenged in federal court, with California and sixteen other states suing the federal government on separation of powers grounds.[12]

The Sierra Club and ACLU brought a similar suit.[13] In 2019, a U.S. district court issued a preliminary injunction, and later a permanent injunction, in the Sierra Club suit, blocking Trump from diverting military funds for construction of a border wall.[14] In July 2019, the Supreme Court, in a 5–4, one-paragraph ruling, overturned the lower court's ruling in Trump v. Sierra Club that blocked the use of funds to construct the border wall pending further legal proceedings; the Supreme Court majority found that the Sierra Club likely lacked legal standing.[15][16]

In October 2019, in a separate case, a U.S. district court in Texas found that the El Paso County, Texas and the Border Network for Human Rights had legal standing to challenge Trump's attempt to divert $3.6 billion in military construction for wall construction along the Mexico border, and in December 2019, the court issued a permanent injunction blocking the attempted diversion of funds.[17] The injunction was overturned in January 2020.

In a proclamation made on February 13, 2020, Trump extended Proclamation 9844 for an additional year; he repeated the one-year extension on January 18, 2021, just two days before leaving office.[18][19] However, Trump's successor, President Joe Biden, in one of his first official acts as president on January 20, 2021, terminated Trump's emergency declaration and paused work on the wall.[19][20] On February 11, 2021, Biden wrote in a letter to Congress that the original declaration of national emergency had been "unwarranted" and that no more government funds would be used to build the wall.[21]

  1. ^ 84 FR 4949
  2. ^ a b Sink, Justin; Talev, Margaret (February 15, 2019). "Trump Signs Spending Bill and Declares Emergency to Build Wall". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on February 16, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  3. ^ Thrush, Glenn (February 15, 2019). "In a Divided Washington, Congress Averted a Shutdown – but at a Price". The New York Times. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Talev, Margaret; Sink, Justin (February 14, 2019). "Trump Plans $8 Billion for Border Wall Invoking His Own Authority". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Sakuma, Amanda (February 17, 2019). "The acting Pentagon chief has yet to say whether Trump's border wall is militarily necessary". Vox.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Trump looks to raid Pentagon budget for wall money using emergency powers". The Washington Post. February 15, 2019. Archived from the original on February 15, 2019.
  8. ^ Savage, Charlie (February 15, 2019). "Presidents Have Declared Dozens of Emergencies, but None Like Trump's". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 17, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  9. ^ Ballhaus, Rebecca (February 16, 2019). "Trump Declares Emergency Over Wall, Inviting Likely Court Fight". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on February 16, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  10. ^ a b Dartunorro Clark, 'Dangerous.' 'Abuse.' 'Lawless': Bipartisan attack on Trump national emergency declaration Archived April 29, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, NBC News (February 14, 2019).
  11. ^ Tackett, Michael (March 15, 2019). "Trump Issues First Veto After Congress Rejects Border Emergency". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  12. ^ Rebecca Davis O'Brien & Sadie Gurman, States File Suit Against Trump Administration Over Wall Emergency Archived June 21, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, Wall Street Journal (February 18, 2019).
  13. ^ Bobby Allyn, Federal Judge Rules Against Border Wall Construction With Military Funds Archived July 1, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, NPR (June 28, 2019).
  14. ^ Kartikay Mehrotra, Trump's Plan to Start Building Wall Monday Crumbles in Court Archived July 2, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, Bloomberg (June 29, 2019).
  15. ^ de Vogue, Ariane (July 26, 2019). "Supreme Court clears way for Trump admin to use Defense funds for border wall construction". CNN. Archived from the original on July 26, 2019. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  16. ^ Adam Liptak (July 26, 2019). "Supreme Court Lets Trump Proceed on Border Wall". New York Times. Archived from the original on July 26, 2019. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  17. ^ Priscilla Alvarez & Caroline Kelly, Federal judge blocks use of billions of dollars in Pentagon funds to build border wall Archived December 14, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, CNN (December 10, 2019).
  18. ^ Elis, Niv (February 13, 2020). "Trump extends emergency declaration at border". The Hill. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  19. ^ a b Sandra Sanchez, Biden rescinds Trump’s emergency declaration on border security, halts border wall construction Archived February 15, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Border Report (January 20, 2021).
  20. ^ Biden, Joe (January 12, 2021). "Proclamation on the Termination Of Emergency With Respect To The Southern Border Of The United States And Redirection Of Funds Diverted To Border Wall Construction". The White House. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  21. ^ Biden, Joe (February 11, 2021). "A Letter to the Speaker Of The House And President Of The Senate Regarding the Termination of the National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border". The White House. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.