El Paso County, pro-immigrant group sue Trump over emergency declaration

El Paso County, Texas, and a nonprofit civil rights group are suing President Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall along the southern border. 

El Paso County, which sits across the border from Mexico, and Border Network for Human Rights filed a joint lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on Wednesday.

The 39-page complaint requests a judge to declare that Trump’s executive action is “unauthorized by, and contrary to, the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

{mosads}It also asks for the court to block any federal activity undertaken related to Trump’s declaration. 

Trump on Friday declared a national emergency to allocate nearly $8 billion for construction of his long-sought border wall. The president made the announcement from the Rose Garden after he agreed to sign a spending bill that did not include his request for $5.7 billion in funds to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

A group of 16 states responded to the move this week by filing a lawsuit challenging the president’s authority to take such a step.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is asking for the court to permanently enjoin the Trump administration from building a border wall without an appropriation by Congress and to permanently block the administration from diverting federal funding toward construction of a border wall. 

Three environmental and animal advocacy groups have also submitted a joint lawsuit arguing that the Trump administration lacked authority to use the emergency funding for construction of a border wall. 

Trump acknowledged last week that the declaration would likely face legal challenges, saying that it may get some negative rulings before ending up in the Supreme Court.