WASHINTON: US President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration to divert more than US$6 billion to build a wall on the border with Mexico faced its first court test on Friday , as a lawyer for the House of Representatives said Congress never approved the funding.
To obtain the additional money, Trump declared a national emergency and diverted US$601 million from a Treasury forfeiture fund, US$3.6 billion from military construction and US$2.5 billion earmarked for Department of Defense counternarcotics programs. The plaintiffs in Friday's hearing include 20 states, the Sierra Club environmental group and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, which advocates for immigrants. They argued in court papers that the administration has violated the separation of power principle of the US Constitution, among other claims.