Pelosi Joins Forces with Mexican Officials at the Border To Celebrate 'International Bridge Ceremony'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was at the southern border this weekend to share a hug with a Mexican official and affirm her opposition to President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration.
Trump has declared an emergency at the southern border, citing massive, unchecked illegal immigration. The declaration would allow Trump to move forward with his proposed border wall despite the objections of Democrats in Congress, who have fought against money for the wall being included in the federal budget.
Pelosi was in Laredo, Texas, for a ceremony sponsored by the Washington’s Birthday Celebration Association of Laredo, which annually brings together officials from Mexico and the U.S. to promote friendship.
On Saturday, video showed Pelosi hugging a Mexican official during the International Bridge Ceremony.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi participates in a US-Mexico hug ceremony on the border near Laredo, Texas. pic.twitter.com/LEkdWnP1Dv
— Circa (@Circa) February 23, 2019
“I’ll remember this trip for years to come,” Pelosi wrote on Twitter.
Thank you to @RepCuellar for welcoming me to the vibrant border community of Laredo this week. From taking part in our conversation at @txamiu to participating in the celebration of George Washington’s Birthday with Mexican dignitaries, I’ll remember this trip for years to come. pic.twitter.com/3H7YsL29wW
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 23, 2019
“I love coming here to celebrate,” the House speaker had said earlier, according to The Hill.
Saturday’s event came one day after Pelosi helped launch the House Democrats’ effort to fight Trump’s state of emergency declaration. The House will vote Tuesday on a measure that would block the declaration.
“There isn’t going to be a wall,” Pelosi said during a news conference in Laredo on Friday, according to KSAT.
“The president’s act is lawless and does violence to our Constitution, and therefore, to our democracy,” Pelosi said, the Houston Chronicle reported.
“Not only is he disrespecting the legislative branch and the Constitution of the United States, he is dishonoring the office in which he serves,” she said.
Pelosi claimed Trump was seeking to “usurp the power of Congress” in order to spend money.
“Those in the military don’t want the money taken out of their defense budget for a purpose that is clearly not a defense purpose,” she said.
As reported by The Western Journal, Trump has said that if Democrats pass their legislation to block his emergency declaration, he will veto it.
“Declaring a national emergency is a sobering act, which is why Congress enacted a statute governing when and how the president can take this action,” Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins said, according to The New York Times.
“House Democrats’ angst over Congress’s power of the purse is unwarranted, especially since the commander in chief’s authority to redirect military funds for a national emergency is affirmed in a law passed by their own branch,” he added.
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