Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has joined attorneys general from other states in a lawsuit to challenge the national emergency declaration by President Trump over the border wall.
President Trump announced Friday he was declaring a national emergency at the southern border and is using his executive authority to tap billions of other government funds to build the wall.
Trump took the action as he signed into law a deal to keep the federal government open. The legislation gives Trump 55 additional miles of border fencing, well short of the 200-plus miles he wanted.
On Friday Tong said some of the money Trump could use may have been earmarked for projects in Connecticut and that is why he is working on the lawsuit to stop the president from using a national emergency declaration to use funds to build the wall.
The complaint, filed Monday, states that Trump's declaration is unlawful and unconstitutional.
"President Trump’s hyped crisis is a pretext to justify redirecting Congressionally-appropriated funds to pay to build a wall along the southern border after he failed to get Congress — or Mexico — to pay for it. The facts do not support President Trump’s rhetoric or his declaration," a media release from Tong's office read.
The suit seeks injunctive relief to block the emergency declaration.
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The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and is led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Becerra and Tong are joined by the the attorneys general of Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Virginia.
