President Delcares State of Emergency at Southern Border

Breaking News

Published February 15, 2019

WASHINGTON — Standing in the Rose Garden of the White House grounds, President Donald Trump on Friday morning declared a state of emergency at the country’s southern border.

This move came in conjunction with the president’s signing of the spending bill passed by both houses of Congress on Thursday that will the government to remain open for the rest of the fiscal year that ends on September 30, 2019.

The state of emergency was the president’s way of attempting to shift attention from his failure to secure $5.7 billion for a wall at the southern border that the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives refused to appropriate.

The state of emergency declaration immediately provides $8 billion to construct or repair as many as 234 miles of a border barrier. The money is being taken from other funds directed in other areas. Some $3.6 billion will be moved from a military construction fund, $600 million from a Treasury Department drug forfeiture fund and $2.5 billion from a Pentagon drug prevention program, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters Friday.

Democrats have vowed to take legal action against the president’s state of emergency declaration. It is predicted legal action will go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

NCAI President Jefferson Keel gives State of Indian Nations address at Newseum in Washington, D.C. on Monday.

The signing of the spending bill is good news for Indian Country because it averts another federal government shutdown.

“Indian Country cannot afford another federal government shutdown; America cannot afford another shutdown,” said National Congress of American Indians President Jefferson Keel on Monday at the “State of Indian Nations” address.