Trump declares border emergency to free up wall money
‘We’re talking about an invasion of our country, with drugs, with human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs ’
US President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency on the US southern border on Friday in a bid to unlock money to build his proposed wall, a day after agreeing to sign legislation providing about $1.4bn for the controversial project. Combined with spending legislation Trump also intends to sign, the move will free up about $8bn for the wall, Trump’s top campaign promise. He criticised Congress for not providing more than $1.375bn in the spending bill passed on Thursday, enough for about 88km of physical barriers. “They’re simply incapable” of providing necessary funding for the wall, Trump’s acting chief of staff said. With Trump’s executive actions, “we should have sufficient money this year” to complete as much wall as the president proposed in a $5.7bn budget request, about 376km. In unscripted remarks on Friday, Trump depicted the declaration as ordinary and said: “I didn’t need to do this ... I just want to get it done faster,” he said of the wall. Trump noted that it...
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