page_title: National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States
section_title: Announcement
hierarchical_section_title: National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States / Announcement
caption_attribution_description: English: President Donald J. Trump signs the Declaration for a National Emergency to address the national security and humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border.
context_page_description: On February 15, 2019, President of the United States Donald Trump declared a National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States, citing the National Emergencies Act, and ordered the diversion of billions of dollars of funds that had been appropriated to the U.S. Department of Defense for military construction. Trump declared the emergency after he signed, but derided, a bipartisan funding bill containing border security funding without funding for the border wall that Trump demanded.
  Trump had previously threatened to declare a national emergency if Congress did not pass his entire desired program for a wall on the United States–Mexican border by February 15, 2019. Under Proclamation 9844, the Trump administration plans to redirect $8 billion in previously-agreed expenditure and to use the money to build the wall instead. Under Trump's plan $3.6 billion assigned to military construction, $2.5 billion meant for the Department of Defense's drug interdiction activities, and $600 million from Treasury's forfeiture fund would be diverted for wall construction.
context_section_description: On February 15, 2019, President Trump spoke to the media in the White House Rose Garden. After signing the spending bill to keep the government open, Trump declared a national emergency over the border crisis, hoping to get access to $8 billion to use for border security. During his announcement, Trump stated, "I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.” Critics asserted this statement would undercut the rationale for his emergency declaration in court challenges.
caption: President Trump signed a declaration of national emergency on February 15, 2019.
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