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Environmentalists ask Supreme Court to stop funding of border wall construction

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Environmentalists are making a last-ditch effort at the Supreme Court to stop the continued construction of parts of President Trump’s border wall.

The Sierra Club asked the justices to undo their decision from a year ago that allowed construction now that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the administration’s use of funds for the wall is unlawful.

Without the Supreme Court’s action, say lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, the Trump administration could simply run out the clock.

“The Trump administration has lost in every lower court, but is still rushing to complete the president’s border wall before the Supreme Court can review the merits of this case,” said Dror Ladin, an ACLU lawyer. “If the administration succeeds, there will be no border wall construction left to stop by the time the Supreme Court hears this case.”

A panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled last month that Trump’s transfer last year of $2.5 billion in military funds to pay for border wall construction was an illegal overreach of executive authority.

The president, who ran for office in 2016 promising that Mexico would pay for the border wall, has obtained more than $15 billion in U.S. federal funds for his signature project, including $5 billion provided by Congress through conventional appropriations. The president has tapped into Pentagon accounts for the remaining $10 billion, including the $2.5 billion transfer last year that the Ninth Circuit said was unlawful.

Last summer, the Supreme Court on a 5 to 4 vote allowed the administration to proceed with the transfers and contracts for construction even though House Democrats, affected states and environmental groups said that violated the will of Congress, which withheld the funds from the administration.

The fight over funding the wall led to a government shutdown.

But in allowing the administration last summer to proceed, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority said that the government had “made a sufficient showing at this stage” that private entities could not challenge the transfer of money by the executive branch.

Now, the Ninth Circuit panel in San Francisco agreed with a district judge who said that was not so. “It is for the courts to enforce Congress’s priorities,” the panel said in a 2 to 1 decision, and it found the Sierra Club “may invoke separation-of-powers constraints, like the Appropriations Clause, to challenge agency spending in excess of its delegated authority.”

The ACLU in its filing Wednesday said that the high court needs to step in now, or else it will be too late.

The administration has 150 days to appeal the Ninth Circuit’s decision, the ACLU petition says. Absent emergency action from the Supreme Court, “defendants will complete the entire wall before they even need to file a petition for certiorari with this court,” the petition states.

Source: Environmentalists ask Supreme Court to stop funding of border wall construction

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DeSantis parts with Trump in response to Surfside tragedy

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According to this article on Associated Press, by BOBBY CAINA CALVAN and STEVEN SLOAN

“SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — When the coronavirus ravaged Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis defiantly bucked mask mandates. He later cracked down on protesters advocating racial justice, blasted President Joe Biden on immigration, jumped into the fight over transgender athletes and signed sweeping legislation to toughen voting rules.

But after a deadly building collapse, the Republican governor is largely hitting pause on the culture wars.

In the two weeks since a 12-story condo tower in this coastal community suddenly crumbled, killing at least 64 people, DeSantis has stood somberly with local officials, including Democrats, as they assessed the damage. He nodded in agreement when Biden visited and hailed their joint appearance as a sign that those with opposing political views can work together in a crisis. And he even skipped a rally in Sarasota headlined by former President Donald Trump, whose early endorsement was crucial in helping DeSantis win the governor’s race in 2018.”

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Trump’s border security theater hasn’t ended — it’s gotten worse

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According to this article on MSNBC, by Hayes Brown, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

“There are a lot of problems with the U.S. immigration system. Of all the even halfway decent fixes that have been proposed over the years, though, sending in the military to deter immigrants at the southern border ranks pretty far down the list. And yet that’s exactly what’s happening, part of a process that I highly doubt will make anyone safer, be they a U.S. citizen or a migrant who has recently crossed the border.

In a rush of gubernatorial one-upmanship, National Guard troops and state police officers are being sent from around the country to fortify Texas and Arizona — sort of. Meanwhile, thousands of service members are unwilling participants in a farce, play-acting at an actual solution to immigration issues that have loomed over the country for decades now. Those federal troops whom former President Donald Trump first deployed ahead of the 2018 midterms will apparently spend another year doing, well, something along the southwestern border.”

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Texas Sheriffs Sue President Biden for Limiting Deportations

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According to this article on Courthouse News Service, by CAMERON LANGFORD

“GALVESTON, Texas (CN) — Four Texas sheriffs and an association of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers sued the Biden administration Thursday, claiming its policy limiting ICE from taking most arrested immigrants into custody for deportation is allowing “extremely dangerous illegal aliens” to be released onto the streets.

As part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to take a more humane approach to immigration enforcement compared to the harsh policies of former President Donald Trump, the Biden administration issued a memo Feb. 18 directing ICE to focus on deporting immigrants who are national security or terrorist threats, gang members, those who have been convicted of certain aggravated felonies and any that entered the country after Nov. 1.”

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