Maine among states suing over Trump’s border ‘emergency’

5 years ago

Maine will join roughly a dozen states in filing a lawsuit against the White House over President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration late last week.

Marc Malon, spokesman for Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, confirmed Monday afternoon in an email that Maine is joining the federal lawsuit, filed by California’s attorney general. More details will be released later today or early tomorrow, Malon said.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, was expected to file the suit Monday opposing Trump’s Friday statement in which he declared a state of emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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The formal declaration could potentially give Trump the power to bypass Congress and fund construction of 230 miles of border barriers — a point of contention between Trump and Washington lawmakers that recently led to the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.

The Republican president made that move last week after Congress averted another shutdown by approving a funding bill containing only $1.4 billion of the $5.7 billion he wanted in wall funding.

Becerra is expected to argue that Trump’s action violates the Constitution and is an abuse of his executive authority. Frey is also a Democrat who was elected by the Legislature led by his party in December to succeed Gov. Janet Mills in the attorney general’s office.

This article originally appeared on www.bangordailynews.com.