A California federal judge issued a ruling blocking President Trump from using $2.5 billion in military funds to build a wall along the southern border.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam, who is an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled to permanently block the $2.5 billion after issuing a temporary injunction in May to stop the administration’s use of the funds. The ruling stymies several construction projects in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Gilliam ruled in two lawsuits on Friday. The first, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, came in response to Trump’s national emergency declaration transferring $6.7 billion in military funds to border wall construction. Gilliam’s decision halted the use of funds meant for Defense Department counter-drug activities.
In May, upon issuing the temporary injunction on border wall funding, Gilliam noted that the partial government shutdown earlier in the year represented an improper balance of power between lawmakers and the president. He stated, “The position that when Congress declines the Executive’s request to appropriate funds, the Executive nonetheless may simply find a way to spend those funds ‘without Congress’ does not square with fundamental separation of powers principles dating back to the earliest days of our Republic.”
Attorneys for the ACLU and the Justice Department notified Gilliam on Friday the government intended to begin construction on border projects in El Centro and Tucson by Monday and inquired whether he intended to issue his ruling before that time. His ruling later in the day removed the need for attorneys to file emergency motions over the weekend.
“We applaud the court’s decision to protect our Constitution, communities, and the environment today,” Gloria Smith, an attorney for the Sierra Club, said of the ruling. “Walls divide neighborhoods, worsen dangerous flooding, destroy lands and wildlife, and waste resources that should instead be used on the infrastructure these communities truly need.”
Gilliam’s also ruled in a separate lawsuit filed by the State of California and 19 other states, stopping the Trump administration from going forward with multiple border wall construction in New Mexico and California while the case plays out.
The matter is expected to be quickly taken up by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
In Japan, where he had attended the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Trump vowed to appeal the judge’s ruling. “We’re immediately appealing it and we think we’ll win the appeal … there was no reason that that should have happened,” he said at a press conference.
Trump also threatened to reengage his plan to crack down on illegal immigrants in the near future, saying, “We will be removing large numbers of people … starting in a week after, you know, sometime after July 4.” Last weekend, Trump said he was delaying plans for federal officials to conduct mass raids to arrest illegal immigrants who violated deportation orders in order to give lawmakers two weeks to come up with an agreement on immigration issues. “If not, Deportations start!” Trump said at the time.
