Three years into his presidency, President Donald Trump has faced a host of legal challenges over his border wall and his attempt to shore up the effort with additional funds from other government accounts. "We are committed to keeping our borders secure, and we will finish the wall".
"I am unable to agree, without focused panel deliberation and discussion-possibly aided by dialogue with counsel-that the government presently has shown either a likelihood of success on the merits or irreparable harm in the absence of a stay", Higginson wrote in his dissent, according to CBS News.
The plaintiffs had argued that the president overstepped his executive authority when he issued a national emergency declaration last February to reallocate existing funds and put them toward building his long-promised border wall. Trump had previously requested $5.7 billion from lawmakers, but Democrats balked at the price tag. The Congressionally approved funds fell short of the Presidents initial demand of $5 billion for border wall construction.
The case can still be appealed further, but the ruling was a win for Trump, who campaigned on the promise of a border wall.
Trump tapped his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, to help speed up completion of the wall, but the project has been plagued by delay.
Lawyers for El Paso County and the Border Network for Human Rights, who originally sued over the controversial funding mechanism, suggested that the legal fight isn't over.
"This is an unlawful act by this administration, and we are going to keep challenging it", Kristy Parker of Protect Democracy Project Inc. said in a phone interview Thursday.
"The administration's new, racially motivated wealth test that they are trying to implement with the public charge statute is contrary to federal law and we'll continue to vigorously advocate and vigorously litigate those cases throughout the country", said Nicholas Espiritu, an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center.
In a 2-1 decision late Wednesday, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals placed a temporarily halt on a December 10 ruling by a federal judge in El Paso, Texas, that barred the transfer.
"The Fifth Circuit has lifted an illegitimate nationwide injunction entered by a lower court, and in doing so has allowed vital border wall construction to move forward using military construction funds", it said. "Entire Wall is under construction or getting ready to start!"
