Source: https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/4:2019cv00872/338455/151
Timestamp: 2020-07-12 20:38:28
Document Index: 376566733

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 284', '§ 8005', '§ 284', '§ 21', '§ 284', '§ 8005', '§ 284', '§ 8005', '§ 1001', '§ 9002', '§ 1512', '§ 102', '§ 2808', '§ 2808', '§ 2808', '§ 2808', '§ 2808', '§ 284', '§ 284', '§ 284', '§ 8005', '§ 1001', '§ 9002', '§ 1512', '§ 8005', '§ 1512', '§ 1001']

Statement re 141 Order Defendants' Response to the Court's May 13, 2019 Order by Department of Defense, David Bernhardt, Mark T for State of California et al v. Trump et al :: Justia Dockets & Filings
Justia Dockets & Filings Ninth Circuit California Northern District State of California et al v. Trump et al Filing 151
Response to the Court's May 13, 2019 Order 141 by Department of Defense, David Bernhardt, Mark T. Esper, Steven T. Mnuchin, Kirstjen M. Nielsen, Patrick M. Shanahan, Richard V. Spencer, Donald J. Trump, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Treasury, United States of America, Heather Wilson. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit, # 2 Exhibit)(Warden, Andrew) (Filed on 5/15/2019) Modified on 5/16/2019 (cpS, COURT STAFF).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 JAMES M. BURNHAM Deputy Assistant Attorney General JOHN R. GRIFFITHS Director, Federal Programs Branch ANTHONY J. COPPOLINO Deputy Director, Federal Programs Branch ANDREW I. WARDEN (IN #23840-49) Senior Trial Counsel KATHRYN C. DAVIS MICHAEL J. GERARDI LESLIE COOPER VIGEN RACHAEL WESTMORELAND Trial Attorneys U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch 1100 L Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Tel.: (202) 616-5084 Fax: (202) 616-8470 Attorneys for Defendants 13 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA OAKLAND DIVISION 14 15 16 17 No. 4:19-cv-00872-HSG STATE OF CALIFORNIA, et al., Plaintiffs, 18 19 20 21 v. DONALD J. TRUMP, et al., Defendants. DEFENDANTS’ RESPONSE TO THE COURT’S MAY 13, 2019 ORDER Hearing Date: May 17, 2019 Time: 10:00 a.m. Place: Oakland Courthouse Courtroom 2, 4th Floor 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 State of California, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., 4:19-cv-00872-HSG – Defs’ Response to Court’s May 13 Order 1 Defendants hereby submit the following response to the questions posed in the Court’s May 2 13, 2019 Order regarding status of funds used for border barrier construction under the disputed 3 statutes in this case. 4 5 1. Updated Information About the Status and/or Use of Funds A. Treasury Forfeiture Fund (TFF) 6 As explained in Defendants’ opposition brief in the States’ case, TFF funds are being made 7 available to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in two tranches. See Defs’ Opp. at 9 (No. 8 4:19-cv-00872, ECF No. 89). The first tranche of $242 million was made available to CBP for 9 obligation on March 14, 2019. Id. CBP will be obligating the first $242 million through an Interagency 10 Agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. See Third Declaration of Loren Flossman ¶ 4 11 (May 14, 2019) (attached as Exhibit 1). CBP will retain a small portion of the $242 million for program 12 support on the TFF funded projects. Id. The Interagency Agreement will likely be in place by June 13 2019. The second tranche of $359 million is expected to be made available for obligation at a later 14 date upon Treasury’s receipt of additional anticipated forfeitures. See Defs’ Opp. at 9. 15 CBP plans to use TFF funds exclusively for projects in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. See 16 Third Flossman Decl. ¶ 5. CBP may use some TFF funds for planning related to barrier construction 17 projects in other sectors, but no decisions have been made to use TFF funds for that purpose. Id. 18 B. 10 U.S.C. § 284 & § 8005 of the DoD Appropriations Act 19 On May 13, 2019, Defendants submitted the Second Declaration of Kenneth Rapuano that 20 provides updated information about the Department of Defense’s (DoD) use of 10 U.S.C. § 284 & § 21 8005 of the DoD Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2019. Mr. Rapuano’s declaration updates the 22 status of the project identified as Yuma Sector Project 2 and states that the U.S. Army Corps of 23 Engineers has decided not to fund or construct this project under § 284 or § 8005 See Second Rapuano 24 Decl. ¶ 4. Additionally, Mr. Rapuano’s second declaration explains that, on May 9, 2019, the Acting 25 Secretary of Defense authorized the funding of four additional CBP-requested projects using § 284. 26 Id. ¶ 6. One project is located in California (El Centro Project 1), and three projects are located in 27 Arizona (Tucson Sector Projects 1, 2, and 3). Id.; see also First Rapuano Decl., Ex. A (describing project 28 locations). To fund these four projects, the Acting Secretary of Defense decided to use DoD’s general State of California, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., 4:19-cv-00872-HSG – Defs’ Response to Court’s May 13 Order 1 1 transfer authority under § 8005 of the DoD Appropriations Act, 2019 (Pub. L. 115-235), and § 1001 2 of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (NDAA) (Pub. L. 3 115-232), as well as DoD’s special transfer authority under § 9002 of the DoD Appropriations Act 4 and § 1512 of the NDAA, to transfer $1.5 billion between DoD appropriations. See Second Rapuano 5 Decl. ¶ 7. Specifically, the Acting Secretary of Defense determined that the four projects will be 6 funded through a transfer of $1.5 billion to the counter-narcotics support line of the Drug Interdiction 7 and Counter-Drug Activities, Defense, account. See id. On May 9, 2019, the DoD Comptroller 8 initiated the reprogramming to transfer these funds. See Third Declaration of Kenneth Rapuano ¶ 4 9 (May 15, 2019) (attached as Exhibit 2).1 On May 15, 2019, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security 10 exercised his authority under § 102(c)(1) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 11 Responsibility Act of 1996, as Amended, to issue waivers for the four projects. See Determinations 12 Pursuant to Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, 13 as Amended, 84 Fed. Reg. 21798-21801 (May 15, 2019). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects 14 to award contracts for the four projects by May 16, 2019, and construction will begin no earlier than 15 45 days after the award of the contracts. See Second Rapuano Decl. ¶¶ 10-11. 16 Mr. Rapuano’s declaration also stated that a contract is expected to be awarded by May 16, 17 2019, for the project identified as Yuma Sector Project 1. See Second Rapuano Decl. ¶ 10. A contract 18 had previously been awarded for this project on April 9, 2019, see First Rapuano Decl. ¶ 8, but in 19 response to a bid protest filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), see 20 www.gao.gov/docket/B-417499.1, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took corrective action to 21 remedy the alleged procurement mistake and terminated the contract on May 4, 2019. The U.S. Army 22 Corps of Engineers resolicited bids for the contract on May 5, 2019, and a new contract is expected 23 to be awarded by May 16, 2019. See Second Rapuano Decl. ¶ 10. 24 Additionally, the contract that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded to SLSCO Ltd. of 25 Galveston, Texas ($789 million) on April 9, 2019, see First Rapuano Decl. ¶ 8, to perform work in 26 support of El Paso Sector Project 1 is currently the subject of bid protest litigation in the United States 27 28 1 Mr. Rapuano’s second declaration stated that the reprogramming actions were initiated on May 10, but the reprogramming actions actually occurred on May 9. See Third Rapuano Decl. ¶ 4. State of California, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., 4:19-cv-00872-HSG – Defs’ Response to Court’s May 13 Order 2 1 Court of Federal Claims. See Fisher Sand & Gravel v. United States, No. 19-615C (Fed. Cl.). The court 2 is scheduled to hold a sealed hearing on May 16, 2019, to address the merits of the plaintiff’s challenge 3 to the agency’s decision to override an automatic stay of contract performance. See id. (ECF Nos. 24, 4 34). 5 C. 6 10 U.S.C. § 2808 On May 6, 2019, the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff submitted an assessment to the 7 Acting Secretary of Defense addressing whether and how military construction projects could 8 support the use of the armed forces in addressing the national emergency at the southern border. 9 See Third Rapuano Decl. ¶ 5. This internal assessment provides the Acting Secretary of Defense 10 with information and recommendations about specific border barrier construction projects 11 identified by the Department of Homeland Security. Id. The Chairman’s assessment analyzes 12 various factors and is intended to inform the Acting Secretary’s determination whether specific 13 barrier construction projects are necessary to support the use of the armed forces and which specific 14 projects to undertake. Id. The Acting Secretary of Defense has taken no action on the assessment 15 and has not yet decided to undertake or authorize any barrier construction projects under § 2808. 16 Id. 17 Also on May 6, 2019, the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer 18 identified existing unawarded military construction projects of sufficient value to provide up to $3.6 19 billion of funding for potential border barrier construction pursuant to § 2808. Id. ¶ 6. The 20 Comptroller reviewed the pool of current unawarded military construction projects with award dates 21 after September 30, 2019. Id. As directed by the Acting Secretary of Defense, the Comptroller 22 excluded from consideration military housing, barracks, or dormitory projects, as well as military 23 construction projects that already have been awarded. Id. The Acting Secretary of Defense has 24 taken no action on this information and has not yet decided to undertake or authorize any barrier 25 construction projects § § 2808. Id. 26 The Acting Secretary of Defense is not expected to make a decision regarding any projects 27 under § 2808 prior to May 22, 2019. Id. ¶ 7. Once a decision is made, the Government will inform 28 the Court. State of California, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., 4:19-cv-00872-HSG – Defs’ Response to Court’s May 13 Order 3 1 2 2. 3 To date, the Acting Secretary of Defense has authorized $2.5 billion in border barrier DoD Funding For Support to DHS Under 10 U.S.C. § 284(b)(7) 4 construction support under 10 U.S.C. § 284(b)(7). Id. ¶ 3. The Acting Secretary of Defense does 5 not intend, and is not currently planning, to provide additional border barrier construction support 6 to DHS under § 284(b)(7) during the next six months. Id. 7 Of this $2.5 billion total, $1,818,465,000 is attributable to transfers of funds to the counter- 8 narcotics support line of the Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities, Defense, account 9 pursuant to § 8005 of the DoD Appropriations Act and § 1001 of the NDAA. $1 billion was 10 transferred on March 25, 2018, see First Rapuano Decl. ¶ 5, Ex. C & D, and $818,464,000 was 11 transferred on May 9, 2019, see Second Rapuano Decl. ¶ 7, Ex. B; Third Rapuano Decl. ¶ 4, Ex. A.2 12 The remaining $681,535,000 was transferred to the counter narcotics support line on May 9, 2019 13 pursuant to DoD’s special transfer authority under § 9002 of the DoD Appropriations Act and 14 § 1512 of the NDAA. See Third Rapuano Decl. ¶ 4, Ex. A. Section 9002 of the DoD 15 Appropriations Act incorporates the requirements of § 8005 by reference and § 1512 of NDAA 16 incorporates the requirements of § 1001 by reference. At the time of the initial transfer of funds on March 25, 2019, the counter-narcotics support 17 18 line appropriation had a total of $238,306,000 in unobligated funds. See First Rapuano Decl. ¶ 5, Ex. 19 D at 2. 20 21 DATE: May 15, 2019 22 JAMES M. BURNHAM Deputy Assistant Attorney General 23 JOHN G. GRIFFITHS Director, Federal Programs Branch 24 25 ANTHONY J. COPPOLINO Deputy Director, Federal Programs Branch 26 27 28 Respectfully submitted, 2 Exhibit A is an updated and signed version of the transfer notice that was provided to Congress on May 10, 2019. See Third Rapuano Decl. It replaces Exhibit C to the Second Rapuano Declaration. Id. State of California, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., 4:19-cv-00872-HSG – Defs’ Response to Court’s May 13 Order 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 /s/ Andrew I. Warden ANDREW I. WARDEN Senior Trial Counsel (IN Bar No. 23840-49) RACHAEL L. WESTMORELAND KATHRYN C. DAVIS MICHAEL J. GERARDI LESLIE COOPER VIGEN Trial Attorneys U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch 1100 L Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Tel.: (202) 616-5084 Fax: (202) 616-8470 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 State of California, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., 4:19-cv-00872-HSG – Defs’ Response to Court’s May 13 Order 5