California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the state will be filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration “definitely and imminently” over the president’s recent national emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We are prepared,” Becerra said during an interview on ABC’s This Week Sunday. “We knew something like this might happen, and with our sister state partners, we are ready to go.”
Becerra said Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico and Oregon will be joining California in the coming lawsuit.
NEW: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra says the state will file a lawsuit “definitely and imminently” against the Trump administration over the president’s recent national emergency declaration. https://t.co/PhozbB3Mne pic.twitter.com/mqUjroQ1pA
— ABC News (@ABC) February 17, 2019
President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday in order “to confront the national security crisis on our southern border.”
His move came after he had signed a bill by a group of bipartisan lawmakers that allocated $1.375 billion for border security barriers, which is enough to construct about 55 miles of a barrier, The Huffington Post reports.
The president then took the step to declare a national emergency to secure additional funding ― as he had requested $5.7 billion for his border ball ―from other the Treasury and Defense departments.
Trump had first suggested that he would declare a national emergency in early January, in the midst of the 35-day partial government shutdown that occurred after Congress and the president couldn’t agree on how to fund the Department of Homeland Security, HuffPost reports. In order the end the government shutdown, Trump signed a bill to fund the government through February 15th, but did not sign an emergency declaration at that time.
During Friday’s press conference to declare the national emergency, Trump said, “I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”
Trump also noted that he expected to be met with legal action following his announcement.
“We will have a national emergency, and then we will then be sued, and they will sue us in the 9th Circuit, even though it shouldn’t be there. And we will possibly get a bad ruling, and then we’ll get another bad ruling. And then we’ll end up in the Supreme Court, and hopefully we’ll get a fair shake. And we’ll win in the Supreme Court, just like the [travel] ban,” Trump said.
Becerra pointed to Trump’s comments during the press conference to show that the declaration was unnecessary and that with his remarks ‘he himself said” he wasn’t acting because of an emergency.
“He’s hoping that he can count on a conservative court in the Supreme Court to give him a victory because he knows he’s going to lose all the way up the ladder of the courts ― the federal court system,” Becerra said on This Week.
“And so it’s become clear that this is not an emergency not only because no one believes it is but because Donald Trump himself has said it’s not,” Becerra added.
“The Department of Homeland Security itself has said to the president that it is more difficult to cross into the U.S. at our land borders than it has been in a long time,” Becerra said. “And so it’s clear that this isn’t an emergency, it’s clear that in the mind of Donald Trump he needs to do something to try to fulfill a campaign promise.”