Trump Fires Back Against Judge Who Blocked Border Wall, Promises ICE Raids Are Coming Soon
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would be appealing a judge’s ruling that blocked funds the administration had designated for a border wall while saying that he would proceed with the deportation of “large numbers of people” after the Fourth of July.
Trump spoke about the ruling and renewed the deportation threats while speaking at a news conference after the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, according to Fox News.
On Friday, Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. in Oakland blocked $2.5 billion in military funding that was designated to build portions of the border wall in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
At the news conference, Trump slammed the decision and said, “We’re immediately appealing it and we think we’ll win the appeal.”
“There was no reason that that should have happened,” he added.
The judge acted in two lawsuits that were brought by activists, Fox News reported.
The activists claimed that the money transfer was unlawful and that the construction of the border wall would have a negative impact on the environment.
The judge ruled in favor of the former argument but rejected the notion that the border wall would threaten species of animals such as bighorn sheep.
However, the debate over the use of military funds to help build a border wall to stem the flow of illegal immigrants is far from over.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to address the issue as soon as next week, according to Fox.
Additionally, the president renewed his threats of massive deportation raids after the aid package in Congress failed to address the asylum process at the border.
“We will be removing large numbers of people … starting in a week after, you know, sometime after July Fourth,” Trump said.
While Trump thanked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for helping with the passage of a bill Thursday that freed up $4.6 billion to care for the migrants that have flooded the U.S. southern border, he suggested the bill will not decrease the chances of massive deportations.
Such deportations have been the subject of intense debate over the last few weeks.
Trump originally backed off the threat of massive deportations during the negotiations over tthe humanitarian aid bill.
He wrote in a Twitter post that he would delay the deportations pending the results of those talks.
At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2019
Now, however, it looks like those deportations are back on the agenda.
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