WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (KUNA) -- US President Donald Trump announced Friday he will sign a "national emergency" declaration over the border wall.
In remarks in the Rose Garden at the White House, Trump said "I'm going to be signing a national emergency," and that "it is a great thing to do." He added "we have an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people, and it's unacceptable." He stressed "we want to stop" drugs, criminals and gangs from coming into the country.
"We're going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border and we're going to do it one way or the other," he remarked.
He noted "we will have a national emergency and we will then be sued... And then we will win in the Supreme Court just like the ban." Furthermore, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced in a tweet that Trump "signs the Declaration for a National Emergency to address the national security and humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border." Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement in this regard that Trump's "unlawful declaration over a crisis that does not exist does great violence to our Constitution and makes America less safe, stealing from urgently needed defense funds for the security of our military and our nation." "This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed President, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process," she stressed.
A senior administration official told reporters that "with the declaration of a national emergency, the President will have access to roughly USD eight billion worth of money that can be used to secure the southern border." (end) si.ibi