ACLU Sues To Stop Trump’s ‘Unconstitutional’ Border Wall

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the Trump administration, claiming the planned border wall with Mexico is illegal and unconstitutional. The wall is a centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s agenda, but construction hasn’t yet started.

The ACLU and a number of other groups filed a suit Thursday seeking an injunction against the wall’s construction. The filing asks the courts to “immediately stop the illegal construction of President Trump’s border wall” and to achieve this by stopping the administration “raiding military pension and pay accounts.”

In order to pay for the wall, the administration intends to move money from the defense budget.

“The plaintiffs in the case, the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) are asking the court to declare that Trump’s declaration of a national emergency is unconstitutional and unlawful,” an ACLU statement said.

“The president’s declaration and diversion of funds violates core constitutional principles and multiple statutes–not to mention, it’s just plain wrong,” they said.

“We must immediately put a stop to this process to prevent the irreparable harm a southern wall would inflict on border communities and our nation,” ACLU Staff Attorney Dror Ladin said, explaining that they were “going to court to ensure that President Trump’s desperate bid to fund his border wall with a bogus national emergency and taxpayer money fails.”

Whether the suit will be successful remains to be seen, but Trump has encountered great difficulty securing funding for the wall. Republicans failed to vote money for the project when they controlled both houses of Congress and even declaring a national emergency hasn’t helped so far.