A coalition of 16 States of the United States, led by California , filed a lawsuit against the President of Donald trump and high-ranking members of his administration Monday, 18 February.
This was done in order to block the President’s decision to declare a state of emergency in the country to receive funds for the construction of a wall along the U.S. border and Mexico.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. district court for the Northern district of California.
A state of emergency, announced by trump on Friday, allows the President to spend the wall money that Congress appropriated for other purposes. Earlier, the Congress refused to give the President requested $5.7 billion for the construction of the wall.
«President’s Day we’re suing Donald trump to block his abuse of presidential power, stated attorney General of California, Xavier Becerra. Is done to ensure that the President did not unilaterally take away the taxpayer’s money, legally allocated by Congress for the residents of our States. For most of us, the President’s office is not the place for theatre.»
The white house has not yet commented on the lawsuit.
Legal issues can slow down the efforts of trump to build a wall, which, according to him, is necessary to reduce illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, new Jersey, new Mexico, new York, Oregon, Virginia and Michigan joined California in the lawsuit.
The States said that because of the order of trump, they will lose millions of dollars of Federal funding of national guard units, and the redirection of funds would damage their economies.
