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Trump drafts $7B emergency order for border wall: report

President Donald J. Trump addresses his remarks on the humanitarian crisis on our southern border and the partial government shutdown Saturday, January 19, 2019, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. (Shealah Craighead/White House)
January 25, 2019

White House sources have revealed that President Trump is preparing an emergency declaration to build the wall on the southern border.

An exclusive CNN report late Thursday describes the draft of the proclamation, which declares a national emergency and allocates more $7 billion in funding to construct the border wall.

“The massive amount of aliens who unlawfully enter the United States each day is a direct threat to the safety and security of our nation and constitutes a national emergency,” the draft reportedly says.

“Now, therefore, I, Donald J. Trump, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C 1601, et seq.), hereby declare that a national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States,” it adds.

Since Congress has not allocated border wall funds, the proclamation would pull funds from various sources.

The proclamation reportedly proposes pulling “$681 million from Treasury forfeiture funds, $3.6 billion in military construction, $3 billion in Pentagon civil works funds, and $200 million in Department of Homeland Security funds,” an administration official told CNN.

If the proclamation is enacted, it would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the wall, including seizing some private land on which the wall would be built.

The official said the draft was updated last week, but it is unclear just how long the administration has been developing it.

On Jan. 4, Trump announced he was considering using an emergency declaration to build the wall after talks with Democrats on border wall funding remained at a stalemate.

“We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly. It’s another way of doing it,” Trump explained to reporters. “If we can do it through a negotiated process, we’re giving it a shot.”

The government has remained partially shut down for more than a month now, as Trump has said he would not sign an appropriations bill if it did not include nearly $6 billion for the construction of a wall on the southern U.S. border.

The House of Representatives last month approved a $5.7 billion allocation for Trump’s border wall, but the Senate refused to approve such a number before Congress adjourned on Dec. 21.

Trump has issued numerous threats, including shutting down the southern border, as well as having the military build the wall.

His proposals have been rejected by Democrats, including his latest compromise that offered a 3-year extension for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and temporary protected status (TPS) programs in exchange for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.

“300,000 immigrants whose protected status is facing expiration will now have three more years of certainty so Congress can work on an immigration deal,” Trump explained of the proposal.

Last year, Trump warned that DACA would not be restored if a border wall wasn’t funded.