Two federal courts in two days have issued nationwide orders blocking the Trump administration’s use of $3.6 billion in military construction funds to build a wall along the border of the United States and Mexico, declaring that repurposing those funds would be “unlawful.”
In one case, brought on by the American Civil Liberties Union, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam ruled against the administration and indicated that the executive branch attempting to build the wall without Congressional approval was a notable factor in his decision.
“[The] border barrier projects [the Trump administration] now assert are ‘necessary to support the use of the armed forces’ are the very same projects [the administration] sought — and failed — to build under [Homeland Security’s] civilian authority, because Congress would not appropriate the requested funds,” Gilliam wrote in his ruling released Wednesday.
