Judge blocks some funds Trump sought for U.S.-Mexico border wall

[rooster59]

Judge blocks some funds Trump sought for U.S.-Mexico border wall

 

FILE PHOTO: Workers replace a section of the border fence between U.S. and Mexico, as seen from Tijuana, Mexico, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares/File photo

 

The Trump administration must temporarily halt the use of some Defense Department funds for a border wall with Mexico, a judge ruled on Friday, because the money was not specifically authorized by Congress for construction of the barrier.

 

The order blocks the use of $1 billion from the Department of Defense in Arizona and Texas, out of $6.7 billion that Trump administration said it planned to direct toward building the wall.

 

"The position that when Congress declines the Executive's request to appropriate funds, the Executive nonetheless may simply find a way to spend those funds 'without Congress' does not square with the fundamental separation of powers principles dating back to the earliest days of our Republic," Haywood Gilliam Jr, a U.S. judge in California, wrote in the order.

 

Separately, Gilliam denied a preliminary injunction against the border wall sought by a coalition of sixteen states, but said they could move forward with their case.

 

Spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

Trump has said the wall is needed to address a crisis of drugs and crime flowing across the border into the United States.

 

The ruling adds to Trump's frustrations with federal court orders blocking his initiatives for cutting illegal immigration, a policy area he will focus on in his 2020 re-election bid.

 

In February, after a protracted political battle and a government shutdown, Congress approved $1.38 billion for construction of "primary pedestrian fencing" along the border in southeastern Texas, well short of Trump's demands.

 

To obtain the additional money, Trump declared a national emergency and his administration said it planned to divert $601 million from a Treasury Department forfeiture fund, $2.5 billion earmarked for Department of Defense counternarcotics programs and $3.6 billion from military construction projects.

 

The House of Representatives, more than a dozen states and two advocacy groups asked U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, California to block the transfer of funds to prevent the wall construction.

 

They argue the administration cannot use funds Congress has specifically denied and cannot construct a barrier that was not authorized, nor can the administration work outside the geographic area identified by Congress.

 

"This is a win for our system of checks and balances, the rule of law, and border communities," the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted.

 

The wall funding faced another court challenge on Thursday, in a case brought by the House of Representatives in a federal court in the District of Columbia. The lawmakers have said the diversion of $6.1 billion in Defense Department funds violates the separation of powers doctrine laid out in the U.S. Constitution.

 

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Additional reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-05-26

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[neeray]

"Are we tired of winning yet" ?

[mtls2005]

Stealing the money from the military doesn't play well, especially this weekend.

 

Has trump ever won in court? 

 

The feeble lie about stopping drugs with a wall never rings true, regardless of how many times you wish it so. Drugs come through legal ports of entry.

 

trump should license segments of the wall and sell them to his supporters. Time-share, wallsters can decorate their segment as they wish, rent it out, maintain it. Win-win.

 

 

Trump pushing for GOP donor's company to get border wall contract: report

 

Trump has repeatedly urged leaders at the Army Corps and the Department of Homeland Security to award the contract to North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, according to the Post, citing four administration officials.

 

Fisher’s CEO, Tommy Fisher, frequently appears on Fox News and conservative talk radio, claiming his firm can build over 200 miles of wall in under a year and that the company’s weathered steel design would allow it to complete the project on time at a lower cost. Fisher has also met with members of Congress and invited government officials to see barrier prototypes in the desert.

 

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/445354-trump-pushing-for-frequent-fox-guests-company-to-receive-border-wall

[Tug]

Atta a boy Donald bypass democracy and take from the military on Memorial Day yup why dident you get it done last year when you had the votes?oh I rember you couldn’t bring yourself to allow the daka kids a path to citizenship I rember now tired of winning yet?

[candide]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Amen to that. This wingnut judge is actually playing straight into Trump's hands here. We have the election next year. Any pre-election criticism about Trump having failed to complete the Great Southern Wall will be answered by "We did our best but were stopped from protecting Americans by left wing judges" and cite cases like this. 

 I expect in Trump's second term we will see the wall completed, and the crime/drugs avalanches to significantly lessen. It will then be a political nightmare for the left to campaign for more crime by dismantling the wall that is saving American's lives. Not going to win many hearts and minds like that.

There is just a small flaw in your statement: most drugs do not go through the areas where Trump wants to build a wall, they go through legal checkpoints and tunnels. 

Anyway, as your post shows, it will not prevent Trumpists from believing or pretending to believe his B.S. even if it is not true.

[jimmyyy]

1 hour ago, neeray said:

"Are we tired of winning yet" ?

nope, keep on winning

[jimmyyy]

let me see, how about an APPEAL....... 

[spidermike007]

Anytime a judge can block another one of his harebrained schemes, it is a victory for mankind. He is getting alot of pushback, from the judiciary, the congress, and the people. And he deserves all of that repudiation. 

 

He will spin it in whatever way he can. That is what he does, and that is who he is. He has no relationship with truth, ethics, spirit, nature, the earth, or morality. 

[metisdead]

A troll post containing a trolling representation of Trump has been removed. 

 

And some other troll posts have been removed. 

[Sir Swagman]

The nerve of this judge! Fancy pushing things back towards the constitution. Sack the lot of them ..... oh but wait, trumps on strike isn’t he?

 

[candide]

16 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

You are confusing known knowns, with known unknowns and unknown unknowns. An easy, albeit rookie, mistake to make, but one which cleans blows your argument out of the water. Nobody has any idea how much narcotics were successfully smuggled over the open southern border due to the aforementioned unknown unknown conundrum.

That's what CBP statistics show and CPB officials think. It's not absolute proof but do you have any facts suggesting drug goes through areas where Trump wants to build a wall? I don't think so.

[mtls2005]

*edited*

How very Rumsfeldian.

 

If nobody knows anything, then don't use drug interdiction as justification for building a wall. Just as it was a "rookie mistake" to justify WMD for invading Iraq.

 

Most knowledgable government, law enforcement, intelligence, DEA experts back up the claim about most drugs coming through legal ports of entry.

 

But I'm sure you, and trump, aren't "rookies".

 

Obfuscating the reasons wallsters want a wall does your position a disservice.

 

"It'll stop drugs" No, it won't

 

"Ok, It'll stop crime" No, it won't.

 

"OK, it'll stop illegal immigration" No, it won't.

 

"OK, Mexico will pay for it" No, they won't.

 

"But, I wan't a wall" Just go play golf.

 

 

This whole wall thing was mnemonic created for candidate trump to remember to talk about immigration during rallies.

 

 

[GroveHillWanderer]

If anybody know how drugs are smuggled into the US, it's the US Customs and Border Patrol officials. Here's what Gil Kerlikowske, a recent head of that organisation said about this:

 

Quote

... intelligence received from arrested smugglers and law enforcement partners in Mexico indicate that cartels clearly prefer moving high-profit narcotics through the busy ports of entry because their chances of success are better there.

 

[...]

"Regardless of the number of drug dogs and technology and intelligence, the potential of smuggling the drugs in through a port of entry is far greater. Your ability to be captured coming across between a port of entry is much greater," said Kerlikowske, now a professor of practice in criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University. "It's very clear that (drugs) come through the ports."

 

[mogandave]

While continuing to fail in increasing security at  known and confirmed points of entry for drugs in particular.
Electronic and satellite surveillance of  remote border sectors. Asylum seekers front up wall or no wall. Tunnelers do  not.

Yes, I can see the caravans being gathered up and sponsored along the way digging a tunnel...

You guys want an open boarder, we don’t. If they were going to vote conservative you guys would have built the wall back when you promised President Reagan you would...

[Scott]

Troll posts and replies removed.

 

[stevenl]

7 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

Yes, I can see the caravans being gathered up and sponsored along the way digging a tunnel...

You guys want an open boarder, we don’t. If they were going to vote conservative you guys would have built the wall back when you promised President Reagan you would...

 

Who wants an open border?

[mogandave]

Who wants an open border?

Everyone here who thinks critically.

[Tug]

They just passed a disaster relief bill without the tacked on wall funding so that’s good news they couldn’t hold up relief funds for Donald’s wall