The US Federal Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that blocked President Donald Trump’s administration’s plan to use the Pentagon’s budget to build a wall on the Mexican border, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Earlier it was reported that the Head of Pentagon, Mark Esper, officially approved the reallocation of funding for 127 programs to allocate $ 3.6 billion, which would go on the construction of about 175 miles (281 kilometers) of barriers. In December, a federal court in El Paso ruled that the administration’s attempt to redistribute funds intended for military construction by declaring a state of emergency was illegal, and therefore blocked Trump’s plan to use Pentagon funds to build the wall.
According to the decision of the New Orleans Court of Appeal, the plaintiffs did not have sufficient grounds to refer the case to the court. The newspaper notes that although the new decision is not final, at the moment the presidential administration has received a green light on the use of part of the military budget.
Trump has been pursuing a policy of reducing illegal migration since his election. He promised to build a wall on the land border with Mexico before the 2016 elections, from where the largest number of illegal immigrants arrives in the United States. The issue of building the wall caused a budget crisis in late 2018 – early 2019. As a result, Trump was unable to get the money requested from Congress and redistributed other budget items for the construction of barriers on the border.
Trump said the entire 500-550-mile wall will be built for the next election in 2020. The Trump administration said it would take part of the funds to build new barriers on the border with Mexico from other budget items. Trump used the announcement of the state of emergency at the border, which allows you to use the funds already allocated by Congress for other purposes.