BNHR, El Paso County and Protect Democracy Filed Petition with U.S. Supreme Court to Demand a Halt on Building of the Southern Wall
The Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR), El Paso County and Protect Democracy organization filed a “cert before judgment” petition with the U.S. Supreme Court today, requesting to review their case to halt the Trump administration from using Department of Defense funds for the building of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
Fernando García, Executive Director of BNHR, made the following statement regarding the filing:
“We’ve been waiting for the courts to enforce this ruling but it seems the Trump administration’s tactic is to do nothing hoping that if the courts don’t enforce it, the case will go away. That is why we are going to the Supreme Court. We demand this administration be held up the same laws and standards our citizens are. If Trump is so into law and order, then he should comply with the rulings from the court. The use of military funds for this purpose is unwarranted. There is no emergency here. The only emergency our people are going through is the humanitarian crisis created by the Trump administration, wanting to persecute immigrants, separate our families, and cage children, and as if this was not enough, now the COVID-19 pandemic, which is killing our people at disproportionately larger rates. The president has failed miserably at containing this pandemic because he’s been too busy building useless walls and creating chaos.”
This legal move comes after Protect Democracy, El Paso County and BNHR presented arguments before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday morning, against President Trump over his national emergency declaration to fund the border wall. Prior to that, U.S. District Judge David Briones, of the Western District of Texas, ruled in favor of the County of El Paso in the lawsuit. In his ruling, Judge Briones stated that the military construction funds, which were intended for other projects but instead were used by the government to build a border wall, “violated the Consolidated Appropriations Act.” That decision was reversed this past January by the Fifth Circuit of Appeals. The BNHR is hopeful that today’s Supreme Court lawsuit will be the first step in finally putting an end to the use of DOD funds to build the wall.
