President Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday, invoking special presidential powers that allow him to unilaterally unlock federal funding for border wall construction and potentially to deploy the military and National Guard to the border.
Mr. Trump took a similar step during his first term as a way to circumvent Congress and access billions of dollars that lawmakers refused to approve to build a wall along the border with Mexico. He once again empowered the military to support the Border Patrol with logistical planning, drone support and help procuring detention space.
But in a separate order, Mr. Trump appeared to go further by giving the military a specific responsibility over immigration enforcement. During Mr. Trump’s first term, the military only supported immigration authorities but did not apprehend migrants. Mr. Trump now directed the Defense Department to come up with a plan in 30 days “to seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
While details on the exact plans remained unclear, the directive for the military could run afoul of laws that limit the use of regular federal troops for domestic policing purposes.
Declaring a national emergency broadens Trump’s powers.
As he did in his first term, Mr. Trump relied on the National Emergencies Act, a post-Watergate law that allows the president to declare a national emergency, which enhances his executive powers. The act was intended to enable the federal government to respond quickly to a crisis by creating exemptions to rules that would normally constrain the president.
“The president has a pretty wide latitude in determining what constitutes a national emergency,” said Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University. “If they say it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, well, unless the courts say otherwise, it’s a duck.”
The law requires that the president inform Congress which statues he is using as a basis to invoke specific emergency powers. In 2019, Mr. Trump relied on a law that permitted the executive branch to use military construction funds in a declared national emergency.
Congress could intervene, though it is highly unlikely.
Congress is limited in what it can do to stop a president from using his emergency powers. Under the National Emergencies Act, the House and the Senate can pass a joint resolution to end the emergency status if they believe that the president is acting irresponsibly or the threat has dissipated. The law says that if one chamber passes such a measure, the other must bring it up in 18 days.
But Republicans control both chambers of Congress, making it extremely unlikely that Mr. Trump would face pushback from the legislative branch. He could also veto any joint congressional resolution terminating the national emergency.
Courts can curb a president’s emergency powers.
Judges temporarily blocked, and subsequently restarted, Mr. Trump’s use of military funds for border wall construction on multiple occasions before President Joseph R. Biden Jr. came into office and terminated Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration.
The border has also been particularly calm in recent days, especially when compared with the numbers seen a year ago, a development that could undermine Mr. Trump’s assertion that an emergency exists. But that might not matter. The Justice Department is likely to argue in any litigation that the courts should defer to the president’s determination.
The post Trump declared an emergency at the southern border. Here’s what that means. appeared first on New York Times.
