Trump declares national emergency at US-Mexico border to get money for wall

"We're going to be signing, today, and registering a national emergency and it`s a great thing to do."

Reuters Photo

Washington: US President Donald Trump has declared national emergency at the US-Mexico border in a bid to get the funds required to build a wall here.

Building a wall on the border was a major promise made by Trump before the 2016 US Presidential Elections but has since been at loggerheads with the Democrats over funding issues. Declaring a national emergency at the border has been slammed by many - including several Republicans - as an unconstitutional move. Trump, speaking from the White House's Rose Garden however said that he has a lot of support.

Reuters adds: A national emergency, if not blocked by the courts or Congress, would allow Trump to dip into funds lawmakers had approved for other purposes in order to build a border wall.

Trump predicted the fight over the emergency order would likely end up at the Supreme Court.

The Republican president`s demand for $5.7 billion in barrier funding, and the refusal of Democrats to provide it, led to a record-long, 35-day December-January partial government shutdown that hurt his opinion poll numbers.

Some of the president`s fellow Republicans, while sympathetic to his view that the southern border is in crisis, have worried that the action steps into Congress` constitutional authority to control the government`s purse strings, a position widely shared among Democrats.

Other Republicans have expressed concern that declaring an emergency to achieve policy goals might set a dangerous precedent, inspiring future Oval Office occupants to seize on the tactic to bypass Congress.