In a Twitter message posted Sunday, President Donald Trump signaled a willingness to declare a national emergency, the Washington Examiner reports.
“President is on sound legal ground to declare a National Emergency. There have been 58 National Emergencies declared since the law was enacted in 1976, and 31 right now that are currently active, so this is hardly unprecedented,” President Trump tweeted, attributing the statement to California Republican Tom McClintock.
By declaring a national emergency, Trump would bypass the United States Congress and start proceedings to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Building a monumental, concrete wall on the Southern border in an alleged effort to curb illegal immigration and stop crime was one of Donald Trump’s key campaign promises. He is yet to deliver, however.
As detailed by a previous Inquisitr report, Trump’s insistence on building a wall caused the longest and most expensive government shutdown in United States history. The government was partially shut down for 35 days, leaving some 800,000 federal workers without pay.
The president subsequently caved, reopening the government. The decision to shut and then reopen the government without achieving the primary goal of ensuring funding for the border wall attracted broad and bipartisan criticism. Even some of the president’s most ardent supporters within the Republican Party publicly criticized what they thought was a failure.
But apart from reopening the government, Trump vowed to declare a national emergency unless a compromise is reached within three weeks. The deadline is approaching, but there is no deal in sight.
Negotiations to avert another government shutdown abruptly fell apart over the weekend — raising the risk of another shuttering of services, a stopgap funding bill or a declaration by Trump of a national emergency at the southern border https://t.co/iQPkfXvxJt
— POLITICO (@politico) February 10, 2019
As the Washington Post reported earlier today, the negotiations between the two parties practically “collapsed” over the Democrats’ insistence on limiting the number of immigrants who can be detained by ICE. Numerous officials from both sides of the aisle confirmed to the Post that another shutdown is likely.
“I think the talks are stalled right now. I’m not confident we’re going to get there,” lead Republican negotiator and Senate Appropriations Chairman, Richard C. Shelby, said.
Trump ally Lindsey Graham said that Trump will not sign any bill that prevents ICE from detaining illegal immigrants.
As the Washington Examiner notes, although Donald Trump keeps signaling a willingness to declare a national emergency, such a maneuver would almost certainly invite a legal battle. Furthermore, according to the publication, even some Republicans are opposed to the idea since it would set a dangerous legal precedent.
According to Vox , legal experts are divided about the issue. Some claim that the president will have no issues building a wall by invoking national emergency, while others disagree and argue that such a decision would be challenged and disapproved in both Congress and courts.