Wisconsin joined 19 other states in a lawsuit challenging the national emergency President Donald Trump declared in order to fund a border wall without congressional approval.
Gov. Tony Evers authorized Attorney General Josh Kaul to join the multi-state lawsuit against Trump’s declaration of national emergency in regard to the unauthorized diversion of funds used to construct the border wall.
The coalition aims to block the president’s emergency declaration and the continuation of wall’s construction, partially due to a lack funding by Mexico.
Claiming the Trump Administration's actions were unlawful, Kaul said the decision to call for a national crisis was “inconsistent with the constitutional mandate of separation of powers,” as it was unsupported by Congress.
“Diverting federal funds away from Wisconsin to pay for a border wall would do little to enhance our security but have real consequences for communities in Wisconsin,” Kaul said. “If Congress had chosen to divert those funds, that would simply be bad policy. Here, however, the President issued an unfounded emergency declaration after Congress decided not to fund the border wall.”
Trump exceeded the power granted to him in the executive office and points to a lack of credible evidence that building a wall would decrease crime rates, Evers said in a press release.
“The president’s declaration is reckless and unconstitutional,” Evers said. “This isn’t how a democracy is supposed to work. There is simply not ample evidence to support the president’s contention that there exists a national security crisis at our southwestern border. The real crisis at our border is the separation of children from their families.”
The upcoming lawsuit is led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
