MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th December, 2019) A Federal judge in Texas has blocked the plan of the Trump administration to use defense budget money to build over 170 miles of barriers on the border with Mexico, The Washington Post newspaper reports.
The ruling was made on Tuesday by Texas Western District Judge David Briones, who said that the US administration's attempt to divert money appropriated by Congress for military purposes was unlawful.
According to The Washington Post, this is the first time that a local US jurisdiction is successfully suing to block the construction of the border wall, promised by Trump.
Trump's administration was planning to use $3.6 billion in military funds to build 175 miles of fencing along the border with Mexico. In September, Defense Secretary Mark Esper began notifying lawmakers which military construction projects would be cancelled in order to free up the funds.
Building a wall on the US-Mexico border was one of Trump's key promises throughout his presidential campaign. The president believes that the wall will stop illegal immigration, as well as human and drug trafficking.
The US president has been struggling to find financing for the wall since Congress refused to allocate billions of Dollars from the budget at his request. In order to bypass Congress and secure the necessary funding, in February, Trump declared a state of national emergency on the US southern border.
