Donald Trump has declared a national emergency in a bid to fund his promised wall at the US-Mexico border without congressional approval, an action Democrats vowed to challenge as a violation of the US Constitution.
The Republican president’s move to circumvent Congress represented a new approach to making good on a 2016 presidential campaign pledge to halt the flow of undocumented immigrants into the country, whom the president says bring crime and drugs.
He also later signed a bipartisan government spending bill Congress approved on Thursday that would prevent another partial government shutdown by funding several agencies that otherwise would have closed on Saturday.
Mr Trump made no direct mention in rambling Rose Garden comments of the funding bill. It represents a legislative defeat for him since it contains no money for his proposed wall - the focus of weeks of conflict between him and Democrats in Congress.
He had demanded that Congress provide him with billions in wall funding as part of legislation to fund the agencies. That triggered a historic, 35-day December-January government shutdown that hurt the US economy and his opinion poll numbers.
By reorienting his quest for wall funding toward a legally uncertain strategy based on declaring a national emergency, Mr Trump risks plunging into a lengthy legislative and legal battle with Democrats and dividing his fellow Republicans.
At least 15 Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate introduced legislation on Thursday to prevent Mr Trump from invoking emergency powers to transfer funds to his wall from accounts Congress has already committed to other projects.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer swiftly responded to Trump’s declaration.
“The president’s actions clearly violate the Congress’s exclusive power of the purse, which our Founders enshrined in the Constitution,” they said in a statement. “The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the courts, and in the public, using every remedy available.”
Reuters contributed to this report. Check out The Independent's live coverage of the president's national emergency declaration below:
Hello and welcome to The Independent's coverage of the latest developments in Washington.
The Senate passed the government funding and border security bill 83 to 16 yesterday following weeks of bipartisan negotiations. The House of Representatives followed suit with a 300-128 vote in favour and Mr Trump is expected to sign off on it on Friday.
Under the terms of the agreement thrashed out earlier this week between Republicans and Democrats, the president would receive just under $1.4bn (£1.1bn) in federal funding for his proposed Mexico border wall, well short of the $5.7bn (£4.4bn) he originally demanded.
That would buy just 55 miles of wall on the southwestern border, a far cry from the 2,000-mile partition from sea to shining sea the president has long promised.
However, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told the Senate on Thursday the Oval Office had another plan to secure wall funding.
“I just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump and he’s prepared to sign the bill. He will also be signing a national emergency declaration at the same time,” Mr McConnell said.
Trump will declare national emergency after failing to secure wall funding
Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to build a wall along the southern US border after failing to secure funding for the measure through Congress.In response to the news, speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said that a national emergency to build the border wall amounts to an “end run” around Congress and that Mr Trump had created the crisis he claims is ongoing at the border.
Ms Pelosi confirmed that Democrats could challenge the president in court if he declares the national emergency and suggested there are other emergencies like gun violence more pressing than the situation at the border.
"Congress will defend our constitutional authorities," she said in a joint statement with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.
Mr Trump has repeatedly rallied against the "bad hombres" he says are arriving undocumented from Central America and flooding the southern states with gang violence and illegal drugs, even demonising an impoverished migrant caravan attempting to cross Mexico in search of a better life in the US.
Here's the official word from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
So what exactly does it mean to declare a national emergency?
The National Emergencies Act, passed in 1976, empowers the president to bypass Congress and take any executive action he sees fit (within legal bounds) in the event of a crisis.
Precisely what that constitutes is vague, however. George W Bush declared one in the aftermath of 9/11, for instance, when the US believed the possibility of further Islamist terror attacks represented a clear and present danger. But there is no legal definition of a crisis, no ratification process by Congress and no judicial review.
To declare a national emergency on the Mexican border in 2019 on the basis of illegal immigration, when most illegal immigrants to the US are there because they have overstayed the terms of their visas rather than by sneaking across the southern border on foot, is certainly unorthodox.
According to the statute, if the president declares an emergency requiring the use of the armed forces, his secretary of defence "may undertake military construction projects, and may authorise the Secretaries of the military departments to undertake military construction projects, not otherwise authorised by law that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces".
Pentagon officials are currently analysing their 2019 construction budget to determine how many much money would be available to use for the wall should Mr Trump opt for that path.
The act does contains a clause that allows Congress to terminate the emergency status if both the House of Representatives and the Senate vote for it, although that has never been attempted. The former is controlled by the Democrats since November’s midterms, but the Republicans hold on to the Senate. However, Mr Trump’s party are by no means united on the need for a wall.
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer yesterday branded the president's probable next step a "tremendous mistake", "a lawless act" and "a gross abuse of power".
"Absolutely it’s an abuse of power for the president to declare a national emergency when none exists and to use it to try to get around the democratic process. But we are in a situation where our legal system for emergency powers almost invites that kind of abuse."
So says Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Programme at the Brennan Centre for Justice, who warned President Trump might take this tack in an article for The Atlantic in December.
Holly Baxter of The Independent here on why calling a national emergency would be the most selfish thing Donald Trump has ever done.
Now that really is saying something.
Opinion: Calling a national emergency would be the most selfish thing Donald Trump has ever done
Luckily, the combined forces of anti-ICE, soft-socialist Democrats compassionate about immigration and anti-tax, libertarian Republicans horrified by the idea of what could be levelled on US taxpayers still might end the dream of a Mexican border wallArizona congressman Ruben Gallego absolutely lighting one up.
If you're struggling to keep up with the latest blasts from Hurricane Donald (not to mention Brexit), you might have missed the fact that William Barr was confirmed as the new US attorney-general yesterday.
Senate confirms William Barr as new US attorney general
Three Democratic Senators broke from the party and voted in favor of his confirmationHere's a profile of Mr Barr, who, I'm sorry to inform you, is a keen competitive bagpiper.
God save America.
William Barr: Who is Donald Trump's nominee for attorney-general?
Experienced lawyer previously held the post under George HW Bush and has impressed at Senate confirmation hearings by emphasising independence from presidentSlightly less important: the president is now officially obese, according to his latest physical examination.
Those Big Macs he served the Clemson Tigers beneath a disapproving portrait of Honest Abe Lincoln are evidently catching up with him.
Trump now officially obese as newly released health report shows he's gained weight
He weighs four pounds more than last yearHow might the president use the powers granted by the National Emergencies Act to rake in enough wall dollars?
The administration has been eyeing several pots of money, including disaster funds, counter-narcotic accounts and military construction dollars, according to congressional aides and White House officials.
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says there are various accounts available.
One possibility is shifting a portion of the $13bn (£10bn) in disaster aid Congress approved last year for Puerto Rico and a dozen states, including California and Texas, hit hard by hurricanes, flooding and other disasters. The money funds Army Corps projects and the Puerto Rico aid alone totals more than $2bn (£1.6bn).
But Texas lawmakers have revolted over White House plans to tap Hurricane Harvey funds and Republican Senator John Cornyn said on Thursday they had won assurances from the administration this would not happen.
"We've been pretty clear we thought that would be a mistake," he said. "There's limited pots of money he can get into, but I'm pretty confident he won't get into disaster funds."
A more likely option is the aforementioned military construction account that's used to upgrade bases and facilities.
Congressional aides said there is a maximum of $21bn (£16.4bn) available. That includes about $10bn (£7.8bn) in funds from the current 2019 fiscal year that ends on 30 September and $11bn (£8.6bn) remaining from the previous four years..
But tapping the military construction money also may hit resistance. The money typically goes towards improvements to housing, roads, hospitals and other facilities at home and abroad.
The president can decide to use military construction funds, but it will be up to the Defence Department to determine which specific projects would lose their money.
Another resource from the military would be its counter-drug fund, known as Section 284 money, although this would "only" garner $800m (£624m), small change in the context of the border wall.
A little more on yesterday's vote on the bill, due to be signed by President Trump today.
Four Democratic senators who have already declared their intention to run against him in 2020 opposed the new funding and security deal: Cory Booker of New Jersey, New York's Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California.
Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, who is expected to join the field soon, did vote for it, however.
In the House, Democrats voted overwhelmingly in favour of averting another shutdown following the recent 35-day record-breaker. Of the 19 who voted against it, most were Hispanic and concerned about the wall's impact on the minority they represent.
Notably, the word "wall," the heart of many a chant at Trump campaign events and his rallies as president, is absent from the compromise's 1,768-page legislative and descriptive language.
Notably, the word "wall," the heart of many a chant at Trump campaign events and his rallies as president, is absent from the compromise's 1,768-page legislative and descriptive language.
"Barriers" and "fencing" are the nouns of choice, a victory for Democrats eager to deny President Trump even a rhetorical victory.
This morning, President Trump is expected to speak on border security from the White House Rose Garden.
It is understood he will announce an initial $8bn (£6.4bn) investment on border barriers - combining the $1.4bn (£1.1bn) approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose from elsewhere through executive actions.
Here's Chuck Schumer attempting to ensure the president doesn't have a last minute change of heart.
Declaring a national emergency would be "a very wrong thing to do", the New Yorker says.
More trolling, from Speaker Pelosi...
Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rossello...
...And chairman of the House intelligence committee Adam Schiff.
If you're wandering in confused halfway through, here's some background reading on the whole border wall debacle, what it would actually constitute and whether it's even necessary.
Will Trump's border wall ever become a reality?
President insists US faces 'a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul' over illegal immigrationPlease allow a moment for our liveblog to load
