Washington, D.C. — Today, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that President Donald Trump plans to declare a national emergency at the Mexican border as a pretext to allow military funds to build a border wall. Sam Berger, vice president of Democracy and Government Reform at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
This is the kind of outrageous abuse of power you expect in an authoritarian dictatorship, not the United States. After failing to convince Republicans and Democrats in Congress to go along with his plans, President Trump is creating a constitutional crisis so that he can appease talking heads on Fox News and force the military to seize land from private owners and Native American tribes along the border. This is a shameless misuse of military resources, a gross abuse of authority, and a threat to our rule of law. It’s also an illegal end run around Congress and an incredible waste of taxpayer dollars that will be challenged in courts. The emergency isn’t at our border; it’s sitting in the White House.
For more information or to talk to an expert, please contact Allison Preiss at [email protected] or 202.478.6331.