People Across The Country Plan President’s Day Protests Against Trump’s Emergency Declaration
Across the country, from New York to California, and Minnesota to Texas, dozens of protests are planned in order to oppose Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration. Protesters are planning President’s Day demonstrations against what they are calling a “fake” national emergency for border wall funding.
Liberal advocacy group Moveon.org and other local groups have banded together for a demonstration against what they call the president’s power grab.
“Donald Trump has declared a #
“We’re mobilizing rapid-response events on Presidents Day—Monday, 2/18—against Trump’s fake crisis and racist deportation force and to stand with immigrant, Muslim, and Black and brown communities to stop Trump’s dangerous and illegal power grab.”
Protesters can enter their zip code in order to determine where the nearest protest will be, or they can head to Rally List to see a list of protests state-by-state.
President Trump declared a national emergency on Friday, which will allow him to free up $8 billion for 234 miles of wall construction and other border initiatives. But the move was immediately met with criticism from people on both sides of the aisle as unconstitutional and as setting a dangerous precedent.
Many people pointed out that the move appears to have been made in order to override Congress, which refused to give the president the funding he wanted for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. This was exacerbated by the fact that the president seemed to acknowledge that there wasn’t an emergency along the border, but rather, this was a faster way to get what he wanted.
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Trump said that he chose to declare an emergency to speed things along.
“I want to do it faster,” Trump said.
“I can do the wall over a longer period of time. I didn’t need to do this. I would rather do it much faster. I don’t have to do it for the election. I have already done a lot of wall for the election 2020.”
Hey @realDonaldTrump America hates you! #NationalEmergencyDeclaration #FAKENationalEmrgency pic.twitter.com/0TiZtSZkTm
— Sandy Claws (@ThisIsWhatsThis) February 16, 2019
As illegal border crossings are far below historic highs and the fact that the president took several months to declare the crisis, many expect Trump’s declaration to be challenged in the courts.
Already, the American Civil Liberties Union has announced plans to sue the White House and nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen has already filed suit, according to CBS. Several Democratic leaders, including House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Gavin Newsom, governor of California, have also suggested that they plant to file suit.
The legal challenge hinges on the ideas of whether or not a president can declare a national emergency after Congress has denied him the funding he wants, and if the Defense Department should be able to take money approved by Congress for other purposes to build the wall.
