More states to join California lawsuit against Trump's emergency

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 18, 2019 09:09PM

Several states are expected to join a California lawsuit against the Trump administration over the president's move to declare a national emergency to get the money for his border wall.

New Mexico, Oregon, Minnesota, New Jersey, Hawaii, Colorado and Connecticut are expected to join the initiative, according to media reports on Monday.

The effort is aimed at preventing Donald Trump from funding his signature campaign pledge through money allocated to the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Housing and Urban Development or the Army Corps of Engineers.

In order to get the funding, Trump declared a national emergency at the border on Friday in an attempt to circumvent US Congress and get the funding.

"We are prepared," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, told ABC. "We knew something like this might happen. ... We are ready to go."

California Governor Gavin Newsom has also announced plans to sue Trump.

"We're confident there are at least 8 billion ways that we can prove harm," he said. "It's become clear that this is not an emergency, not only because no one believes it is, but because Donald Trump himself has said it's not."

The Democratic governor has previously asserted that Trump is "manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up national emergency in order to seize power and subvert the constitution."

"Our message back to the White House is simple and clear: California will see you in court," he said in a statement last week.