Federal Court: Biden Must Spend Border Wall Construction Funds On Border Wall Construction
“President Biden, via proclamation, paused obligation of these funds the day he was inaugurated….” Court rules this was illegal, but I think Biden will find a way not to actually build the wall.
The timing of this is worth noting. Last night, in his vitriolic State of the Union address, Joe Biden blamed everyone but himself — but particularly Republicans — for his border crisis. But everyone knows, on day one of his presidency Biden by executive order removed numerous border protetions, including construction of a border wall.
🚨 FACT CHECK — on his first day in office, Biden:
— Paused deportations
— Reinstated catch-and-release
— Limited which illegals could be arrested
— Halted construction of the border wall
— Ended Trump’s successful ‘Remain in Mexico’ policyThis is BIDEN’s border crisis.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) March 8, 2024
A federal judge in Texas just ruled on the border wall halt, ruling the Biden illegally refused to spend and repurposed border wall construction funding already allocated by Congress. The suit was brought by Missouri and Texas, and their respective Attorney Generals announced the ruling tonight.
BREAKING: In 2020, Congress passed a law ordering @POTUS to finish President Trump’s border wall.
We just obtained a court order blocking him from illegally using your tax dollars on pet projects while the border remains open.
Biden must use the funds to finish the border wall
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) March 8, 2024
🚨 Today, I secured a preliminary injunction against an attempt by the Biden Administration to illegally redirect statutorily obligated funds away from the construction of a border wall. Biden acted completely improperly by refusing to spend the money that Congress appropriated… https://t.co/MGBJD2nOya
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) March 9, 2024
From the Court Order:
Walls and fences have existed at the border between the United States and Mexico for years. In 2016, however, former President Donald J. Trump made “building a wall” a key component of his presidential campaign. During his presidency, various efforts were made to either construct more walls or expand existing barriers along the border. This case focuses on two of Congress’s efforts in that regard.
In 2020 and 2021, Congress funded roughly $1.4 billion “for the construction of [a] barrier system along the southwest border.” President Jospeh R. Biden, Jr., who assumed office on January 20, 2021, had a different view of how these funds should be spent. President Biden, via proclamation, paused obligation of these funds the day he was inaugurated and ordered the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to reassess the situation. DHS issued two plans under this directive. Two now-consolidated lawsuits emerged from these actions: one by the Texas General Land Office (“GLO”) and another by the States of Missouri and Texas (the “State Plaintiffs”).
Now pending before the Court is the State Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction, (7:21-CV-00420, Dkt. No. 19), which GLO has joined. The State Plaintiffs and GLO (collectively, the “Plaintiffs”) move to enjoin the United States from implementing President Biden’s proclamation and to order DHS to obligate the funds that have been congressionally appropriated for the construction of a barrier system at the Southwest border. DHS argues in response that, notwithstanding the language in the statute, an injunction would be inappropriate because the challenged spending decisions are committed to its discretion. The Court disagrees. Whether the Executive Branch must adhere to federal laws is not, as a general matter, an area traditionally left to its discretion. And without that discretion, DHS’s spending decisions run afoul of the APA. After careful consideration, the Court GRANTS the Motion in part, (7:21-CV-00420, Dkt. No. 19).
* * *
For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS the Motion for Preliminary Injunction in part. (Dkt. No. 19). Therefore, it is hereby ORDERED that:
1. The Government and all its respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and other persons who are in active concert or participation with them are hereby ENJOINED and RESTRAINED from implementing the July 2022 Amended Plan to the extent that its obligations are not authorized under Subsection 209(a)(1) and Section 210 as laid out in this Order.
2. The Government is prohibited from obligating funds under Subsection 209(a)(1)—and corresponding funds under Section 210—toward mitigation and remediation efforts, repair of existing barrier, so-called system attribute installation at existing sites, or other similar purposes. Those types of expenses may be authorized under Subsections (a)(2) through (a)(5) where appropriate, however, Subsection (a)(1) permits only the construction of physical barriers, such as additional walls, fencing, buoys, etc.
3. This preliminary injunction shall remain in effect pending a final resolution of the merits of this case or until a further Order from this Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit or the United States Supreme Court. This Order shall not affect obligations that are permissible under other Subsections of the CAAs.
No security bond is required under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c).
The Court STAYS the effect of this Final Judgment for seven days from the date of entry to allow the Defendants to seek relief at the appellate level.
It’s unclear to me whether under this Order Biden actually has to construct the wall. It prevents him from spending the money on other things. And since open borders and mass illegal entry into the country is Biden’s overarching policy, I think he’ll find a way not to actually build the wall.
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Comments
Not a snowballs chance in Hell that will happen.
The Marxists No Borders won’t build a foot of it
Biden’s sock puppet AG will appeal all the way up to SCOTUS as a delaying tactic. If and when SCOTUS rules against Old Joe the Left will use it as another reason to attack the integrity of the high court.
Biden’s sock puppet and slack-jawed lackey AG will appeal all the way up to the SCOTUS as a delaying tactic. And if and when the SCOTUS rules against the Biden regime they’ll simply shrug their shoulders and state they’ve already spent the money on other things and nothing is left to spend on building a border wall.
They can’t spend the money on other things. That’s the whole point of this injunction. They can appeal the injunction, but they can’t violate it unless and until it’s lifted. If they do they’re in contempt, and this administration has shown no propensity to do that. It is in full compliance with all court orders and decisions that apply to it.
I know!
Next thing you know SCOTUS will say the Inflation Reduction Act will need to go to INFLATION REDUCTION!
Or the Border Bill will need to go to the US BORDER.
Absolute CRAY CRAY!
No! Not COVID funds!
This is madness! MADNESS!
If only Biden had not sold already purchased border materials, wasting millions of tax dollars.
And refused to sell them to the State of Texas when Texas requested such sale so Texas could use the materials for the state border wall under construction on state and (mostly) private lands.
Biden created this border crisis, he invited it with 94 executive actions in the first 100 days: -Senator Katie Britt..
If Joe Biden secured our border, nursing student Laken Riley would still be alive.
I’d say that any misappropriate funds and any materials need to replace should be taken from the pocket of the pedophile in Chief who wasted them
Determining where the Biden Syndicate are squirreling away their illicit money should be a priority.
Maybe Biden should use the funds to build a wall around the WH.
He already has….There was a wall erected to protect Congress during the State of the Union. Notice how they worry about themselves, but don’t care about us??
Biden will build a 3 foot high chicken wire fence and pay some of his Chinese masters an exorbitant amount to install it.
Why go through that much work when you can have a shell eco-group sue for some exorbitant sum, settle for the full value *and* sign a consent decree that says the US can’t build a wall in that location, then once the money gets out of the laundry, ten percent for the big guy and the rest in campaign contributions to Dems.
I don’t think that would work. He can’t spend this money on settlements; it has to be spent on physical barriers or nothing. And if Texas and Missouri eventually prevail at trial then he will be ordered to build the wall out of this money, and that will override any consent decree not to.
Beat me to it. I was going to predict some very costly papier-mache.
“Youse judges orta mind yer own beeswax.”
The language seems pretty clear. The question of whether he is obligated to build the wall has not yet been litigated, so the court can’t order him to do so. After all, he may prevail at trial, and it will turn out that he has no such obligation, but what will that help him if he’s already been forced to do it? But the plaintiffs are worried that if they prevail, they will find that the money has all been spent and there’s nothing left to build the wall with, so the court is ordering him not to spend it on anything else. He can either spend it on physical barriers, or keep it in the bank, so that if the plaintiffs prevail at trial and he’s ordered to build the wall, the money will be there for it.
Agreed. This reads to me as the court merely reminding the administration that the misappropriation act is a thing. It in no way requires the obligation or expenditure. They could simply let the money expire and that would be that.
What is this bank of which you speak?
A metaphorical bank. Wherever the money currently resides.
I’m so old that I remember when a President sequestered, i.e. refused to spend, money appropriated by Congress. IIRC some in Congress wanted to make that a fourth article of impeachment against Nixon. Now the Left will defend Old Joe for doing the same thing.
I’m young enough to know that they actually impeached a president for the exact same thing.
Yeah, but he’s not sequestering the money. What he’s doing, and the court just ordered him not to, is worse: He was spending the money on other “border security” measures. His claim was that this was the same purpose for which Congress had appropriated the money, and he was merely changing the priorities. The court just said that’s a matter to be litigated, and in the meantime you can’t do it, in case you lose. If you win, then you can do what you want.
Biden will not build it, no Democrat in the WH will build it.
The only solution is to have Steve Bannon build the wall.
And what does this judge think Dementia JoeBama will do in lieu of his decision.
Dementia JoeBama has been giving the American people the one fingered salute continuously for 38 months