Border Wall Update – The Supreme Court Ruling impact
Bottom Line: On Friday the Trump administration won yet another legal battle in his effort to reign in illegal immigration. The split decision allowing the Trump administration to use $2.5 billion earmarked for military construction projects both sets precedent and will likely lead to a change in Defense Department appropriations in the future. Take away the politics and its pretty straight forward. Congress allocated money for unspecified military construction projects. President Trump is the Commander-in-Chief of the military. If he feels the money should be spent to construct a border barrier that’s within his purview. Completely logical – which as an aside is part of what’s concerning regarding the lower court rulings that refused to apply logic, let alone the law, to this process.
In the future it’s likely defense construction spending will gain more scrutiny by members of Congress leery of the president’s ability to reallocate unspecified funds. What’s notable though – is that we just had the bipartisan budget deal pass the House prior to this ruling – meaning there’s the potential for additional construction money to potentially be used by President Trump for the southern border wall. Stand by for that news (and don’t expect the President to draw attention to the idea until it’s passed in the Senate). Meanwhile, what’s about to happen with the $2.5 billion?
- 100 miles of border protection in Arizona, California and New Mexico
Last week prior to the budget deal and the Supreme Court ruling I offered up this summary to my border wall update story:
To date, progress has been slow for expansion due to a series of legal and environmental challenges. September has been a key timeline throughout this year. It’s the timeline when money approved for wall expansion earlier this year likely runs out in conjunction with the completion of renovations of the existing border wall. This sets up a budget battle, with a legal battle with a looming Presidential Election cycle. To be continued.
Rather amazingly, all in a week, that was resolved and generally in the President’s favor as it applies to the border wall. Here’s a reminder of where we are with the southern border wall. Here’s what’s now been secured so far during President Trump’s administration...
- $6.1 billion in wall funding (including the $2.5 billion litigated)
- 226 miles of replacement wall
- 110 miles of new wall
110 miles of new wall constitutes an expansion of the southern border wall by 17%. That’s progress. To be continued.