WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and border security (all times local):
11:15 a.m.
President Donald Trump is saying that he needs to use emergency powers to protect the nation from drug dealers and illegal immigrants.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted a photo of Trump signing the declaration Friday in the moments before his scattershot Rose Garden news conference.
Trump told stories, without providing evidence, of horrific abuse of women being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border. He also said the border wall would be needed to battle drug cartels as part of a “virtual invasion” from Mexico.
The president declared a national emergency and would find other funds for the wall after expressing unhappiness about a congressional border security deal.
Families of people killed by illegal immigrants were in attendance at the news conference.
11:10 a.m.
President Donald Trump says many other presidents have declared national emergencies. But the presidents he has cited did not use emergency powers to pay for projects that Congress wouldn’t support.
Emergency declarations by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were overwhelmingly for the purpose of addressing crises that emerged abroad. Many blocked foreign interests or terrorist-linked entities from access to funds. Some prohibited certain imports from or investments to countries associated with human rights abuses.
A list compiled by the Brennan Center says Clinton declared 17 national emergencies, Bush 13 and Obama 12.
Trump said Friday he will use executive powers to bypass Congress, which approved far less money for border barriers than he had sought. Trump plans to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for his long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.
The move is already drawing bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill and is expected to face rounds of legal challenges.
