U.S. President Donald Trump has issued the first veto of his presidency, overriding a congressional measure and protecting his national security declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it," Trump said Friday in the Oval Office.

Surrounded by law enforcement officials as well as parents of children killed by people who were illegally in the United States, Trump called the congressional action "dangerous" and "reckless."

On Thursday, Congress formally rejected Trump's national emergency declaration to fund border wall construction, as the Senate voted 59 to 41 to disapprove the executive action.

A dozen Republicans joined with Senate Democrats to back the resolution.

The House had passed the measure weeks earlier, largely along party lines.

Trump's veto sends the issue back to Congress, where it is unlikely that there will be enough support to override the veto. Two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate are needed to overcome a presidential veto.

Earlier this year, a politically divided Congress provided limited funds to erect new fencing along small sections of the U.S.-Mexico border, an outlay Trump deemed inadequate.

The president then declared a national emergency, allowing him to redirect federal funds for the wall, which the White House said would come from mostly military accounts.

The president has argued the situation at the border is a crisis that warrants such an emergency declaration, and has said the United States is facing an invasion of people trying to enter the country illegally.

Democrats have largely opposed building a wall on the southern border.

Republicans who voted against Trump's national security declaration said that while they supported increasing security on the southern border, they did not support Trump's attempt to bypass Congress.

Congress has not funded Trump's border wall requests during the more than two years he has been in office, including during the first two years when Republicans were in control of both houses of Congress. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is likely to sign a veto of the congressional measure to end his emergency declaration to get funds to build a border wall around 3:00 p.m. on Friday, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The veto would be the first of Trump’s presidency. On Thursday, Democrats and Republicans rebuked Trump over his decision to circumvent Congress and take money already designated for other programs to pay for his barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump has said he wants a wall to prevent immigrants from crossing into the United States, describing the situation as a national emergency. Democrats deny there is an emergency at the border, saying border crossings are at a four-decade low.

The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted to end his border emergency declaration, with 12 of Trump’s fellow Republicans joining Democrats. The numbers did not make it to the level required to override a veto, meaning Trump would secure his plans despite congressional disapproval.

The president made a border wall a central promise of his 2016 campaign for the White House. He initially insisted that Mexico would pay for the wall but it has declined to do so. Last year, Trump forced a government shutdown over an impasse with Congress over funding for the barrier.

When a deal to prevent another shutdown did not give him the funding he requested, Trump declared a national emergency, redirecting funds that were allocated for other projects to build the barrier instead. </s> President Donald Trump signed the first veto of his presidency Friday, a day after Congress voted to terminate the national emergency Trump declared at the southern border. His declaration was an effort to circumvent Congress to secure more money for his proposed border wall.

The president was joined in the Oval Office by law enforcement and parents of children killed by people in the country illegally.

“Today I am vetoing this resolution. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it,” Trump said.

Friday morning, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley called this this "a sad moment and a very important moment" and says the vote against the president is also a vote "against the America people and their safety and security."

Republicans joined Senate Democrats in blocking the order but there do not appear to be enough votes for an override. </s> The Republican-controlled Senate approved a resolution to terminate President Trump's national emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border, putting Congress on a path to its first veto confrontation with the Trump administration.

Shortly after the vote, President Trump tweeted, "VETO!" Neither chamber mustered the two-thirds support required to override a presidential veto.

The president also tweeted that he looked forward to vetoing the measure, which he called "Democrat inspired."

But in Thursday's vote to block the president's emergency declaration, 12 Republicans voted with all Senate Democrats to pass the resolution. The Democratic-controlled House approved it last month, 245-182, with just 13 House Republicans breaking with the White House.

North Carolina GOP Sen. Thom Tillis penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Feb. 25 saying he would vote for the resolution blocking the president's actions to go around Congress to build a border wall, but reversed himself and opposed it on Thursday.

At stake is nearly $6 billion in federal funds that President Trump redirected in a Feb. 15 emergency declaration. The White House is seeking to take that money from accounts at the Treasury and Defense departments to build physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. The president made the order after Congress agreed on a bipartisan basis to provide $1.375 billion in wall funds for this fiscal year, but Trump said it wasn't enough.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., initially counseled the president against invoking the national emergency out of concerns it would divide Senate Republicans and test the separation of powers, but he voted with the president on Thursday and defended his actions as lawful.

"He has simply operated within existing law, the National Emergencies Act of 1976, to invoke a narrow set of authorities to reprogram a narrow set of funds," McConnell said. "If Congress has grown uneasy with this new law, as many have, then we should amend it."

Democrats broadly oppose the wall, but have argued the resolution bends the intent of the law and the constitutional authority of Congress. "We've never had a president like this. We've had lots of presidents with lots of foibles but none of them seem to equate their own ego with the entire functioning of the government of the United States except this one. We can't succumb to that," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Trump said Thursday his declaration would withstand expected court challenges. "The legal scholars all say it's totally constitutional. It's very important. It's really a border security vote," he said.

Many Senate Republicans aren't as sure. "Never before has a president asked for funding, Congress has not provided it, and the president then has used the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to spend the money anyway," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who said congressional authority to appropriate federal tax dollars is a "crucial source of our freedom."

"This declaration is a dangerous precedent," he added.

Other Republicans tried and failed to cut a deal with the White House to help defeat the resolution. There was a last-ditch effort to get Trump to agree to back legislation by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to limit presidential authority to declare national emergencies going forward, but Trump told Lee he wouldn't support it, and Democrats said they'd block it anyway. "We tried to cut a deal, the president didn't appear interested," Lee told reporters on Wednesday. He ultimately supported the resolution.

The resolution is the second Senate rebuke of the Trump administration this week. On Wednesday, senators approved a resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which is another rejection of Trump administration policy.

The rebukes are a reflection of the new divided government in Washington, with House Democrats planning on a more confrontational approach to a president than congressional Republicans, who worked hard to accommodate the president's agenda during his first two years in office.



President Trump tweeted a single word this afternoon - veto, exclamation point. He was responding to a congressional vote terminating his national emergency declaration to build a wall. In the Senate, a dozen Republicans broke with the White House to side with Democrats. The democratically-controlled House had already voted against the emergency declaration. The president has been consistent all along about how he would respond. This is what he said earlier today before the Senate vote.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no. I don't know what the vote will be. It doesn't matter. I'll probably have to veto.

SHAPIRO: And this would be the first veto of the Trump presidency. NPR congressional correspondent Susan Davis joins us now. Hi, Sue.

SHAPIRO: The outcome of this vote was not in doubt because Democrats had enough support from Republicans to pass it. But how surprising is it that 12 Republicans broke with the White House?

DAVIS: You know, when you think about how reluctant Republicans generally are to break with President Trump, especially on an issue like the wall, it does speak to how deep the concern is in Congress that there's something much bigger at stake here. Those 12 Republicans who sided with Democrats - they all support the wall. The question is about whether President Trump is operating within the bounds of the Constitution, not with the national emergency declaration itself. The law is pretty unambiguous that he has the authority to declare national emergencies, but it's in the question of using that authority to then redirect this money that Congress has already decided to be spent elsewhere. So what Congress is saying is that they are trying to overturn the president's February 15th order, which aims to redirect about $6 billion to build a wall.

SHAPIRO: Assuming that the president follows through on his promise to veto this, there are not enough votes to overturn his veto, override it. So where does it go from here?

DAVIS: So 16 states have already filed legal challenges to the president's declaration, so that has to play out. Democrats on Capitol Hill also say they intend to fight it in the courts. The vote by Congress, while it doesn't have the votes to override, could play a factor in these legal challenges 'cause it will send a message to the courts about what the legislative branch's position is here. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - before this, he had privately urged the president not to go down this path, although ultimately, today he voted with the White House. But when he was speaking on the floor today, he made the point that if Congress doesn't like the way the president's using these powers, they should do something about it. This is what he said.

MITCH MCCONNELL: He has simply operated within existing law - the National Emergencies Act of 1976 - to invoke a narrow set of authorities to reprogram a narrow set of funds. If Congress has grown uneasy with this new law, as many have, then we should amend it.

DAVIS: The catch here, Ari? A lot of Republicans actually did try to do that. There was a last-minute effort this week among some Senate Republicans to say to the White House, we'll vote down the resolution if the president will say he will support legislation to limit future presidential authority to declare national emergencies. And President Trump told Republicans he could not commit to supporting that.

SHAPIRO: And what's really amazing, Sue, is this is the second vote this week where the Republican-controlled Senate rejected Trump administration positions. There was also a vote on ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which the administration supports. Is this a sea change? I mean, are we living in a different era now?

DAVIS: It is certainly a different chapter. You know, for his first two years in office, President Trump had Republicans in control of the House and Senate. They worked very hard to accommodate the president, move his legislative agenda. I think on, you know, a singular basis, lawmakers still overwhelmingly support President Trump. But as the next two years unfold, he's got a loyal opposition in the House. And he does have a not-insignificant number of Republican senators who, at turns, are uneasy about his foreign policy, his trade policy and, as we saw today, his possible executive overreach.

DAVIS: You're very welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. </s> The Republican-controlled Senate approved a resolution to terminate President Trump’s national emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border, putting Congress on a path to its first veto confrontation with the Trump administration.

Shortly after the vote, President Trump tweeted, “VETO!” Neither chamber mustered the two-thirds support required to override a presidential veto.

The president also tweeted that he looked forward to vetoing the measure, which he called “Democrat inspired.”

But in Thursday’s vote to block the president’s emergency declaration, 12 Republicans voted with all Senate Democrats to pass the resolution. The Democratic-controlled House approved it last month, 245-182, with just 13 House Republicans breaking with the White House.

North Carolina GOP Sen. Thom Tillis penned an opinion piece in the Washington Poston Feb. 25 saying he would vote for the resolution blocking the president’s actions to go around Congress to build a border wall, but reversed himself and opposed it on Thursday.

At stake is nearly $6 billion in federal funds that President Trump redirected in a Feb. 15 emergency declaration. The White House is seeking to take that money from accounts at the Treasury and Defense departments to build physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. The president made the order after Congress agreed on a bipartisan basis to provide $1.375 billion in wall funds for this fiscal year, but Trump said it wasn’t enough.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., initially counseled the president against invoking the national emergency out of concerns it would divide Senate Republicans and test the separation of powers, but he voted with the president on Thursday and defended his actions as lawful.

“He has simply operated within existing law, the National Emergencies Act of 1976, to invoke a narrow set of authorities to reprogram a narrow set of funds,” McConnell said. “If Congress has grown uneasy with this new law, as many have, then we should amend it.”

Democrats broadly oppose the wall, but have argued the resolution bends the intent of the law and the constitutional authority of Congress. “We’ve never had a president like this. We’ve had lots of presidents with lots of foibles but none of them seem to equate their own ego with the entire functioning of the government of the United States except this one. We can’t succumb to that,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Trump said Thursday his declaration would withstand expected court challenges. “The legal scholars all say it’s totally constitutional. It’s very important. It’s really a border security vote,” he said.

Other Republicans tried and failed to cut a deal with the White House to help defeat the resolution. There was a last-ditch effort to get Trump to agree to back legislation by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to limit presidential authority to declare national emergencies going forward, but Trump told Lee he wouldn’t support it, and Democrats said they’d block it anyway. “We tried to cut a deal, the president didn’t appear interested,” Lee told reporters on Wednesday. He ultimately supported the resolution.

The resolution is the second Senate rebuke of the Trump administration this week. On Wednesday, senators approved a resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which is another rejection of Trump administration policy.

The rebukes are a reflection of the new divided government in Washington, with House Democrats planning on a more confrontational approach to a president than congressional Republicans, who worked hard to accommodate the president’s agenda during his first two years in office. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and border security (all times local):

The American Civil Liberties Union says it will file a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Friday announcement came hours after Trump signed the declaration and said he expected legal challenges. The civil rights group will argue that Trump's use of emergency powers is unprecedented and can't be used to build a border wall.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero says the declaration is 'patently illegal.' Their legal action would be separate from anything Congress may do.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have also raised the possibility of legal action. They say Trump's decision would "shred the Constitution" by usurping Congress' power to control spending.

White House officials say some of the money would come from military construction projects.

President Donald Trump has signed legislation to avert another government shutdown and pay for limited fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Press secretary Sarah Sanders says Trump signed the bill at the White House on Friday.

The legislation gives Trump 55 additional miles of border fencing, well short of the 200-plus miles he wanted.

The legislation also keeps parts of the government from shutting down at midnight Friday by providing $333 billion to finance several Cabinet agencies through September.

Trump on Friday declared a national emergency at the southern border and is using his executive authority to tap billions of other government funds to build the wall.

Congress' two top Democrats say they'll use "every remedy available" to oppose President Donald Trump's declaration of an emergency to shift billions of federal dollars into building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday they'll take action "in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public."

They say Trump's decision to declare an emergency is unlawful. They say it would "shred the Constitution" by usurping Congress' power to control spending.

White House officials say some of the money would come from military construction projects. Pelosi and Schumer say Trump would be using money needed "for the security of our military and our nation."

Democrats can file lawsuits and force congressional votes to block Trump's money transfers. Trump could veto the legislation should it pass.

President Donald Trump says he expects legal challenges to his decision to declare a national emergency to erect barriers between the U.S. and Mexico but says he'll be vindicated.

Trump announced Friday that he has signed the appropriate paperwork to declare an emergency on the border so he can build a wall.

In a sing-songy tone of voice, Trump then described how the decision will be challenged and work its way through the courts, including up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Critics have accused Trump of abusing his authority.

Trump says he shouldn't be sued but predicts "we will be very successful in court."

He adds: "Sadly, we'll be sued and sadly it will go through a process and happily we'll win."

President Donald Trump says he needs to use emergency powers to protect the United States from drug dealers and immigrants in the nation illegally.

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 of horrific abuse of women being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border but didn't provide any evidence. 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 immigrants in the United States illegally attended the news conference.

Trump's plans have been criticized on Capitol Hill.

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 has drawn criticism on Capitol Hill and is expected to face rounds of legal challenges.

President Donald Trump says he'll be declaring a national emergency so he can build a southern border wall.

Trump did not say on Friday when he would make such a declaration, but the move will allow him to bypass Congress to spend more money to erect barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Congress has given Trump about $1.4 billion for border barriers, well below the $5.7 billion Trump has insisted he needed to build a wall.

To get around Congress, Trump plans to use his executive authority to tap other sources of funding to get a total of $8 billion to build the wall. The White House says Trump plans to tap accounts in the Treasury and Defense departments, but not money earmarked for disaster relief.

Trump's move is expected to prompt lawsuits and challenges in Congress.

Add the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the groups opposing a national emergency declaration by President Donald Trump to free up budget funds to build his Southwest border wall.

The business organization's stance is not a total surprise. It's opposed Trump administration efforts to restrict legal immigration and to make it harder for young "Dreamer" immigrants to stay in the U.S.

Still, the chamber usually leans Republican. Its opposition Friday is the latest example of how word of an emergency declaration is splitting the GOP and its constituencies.

Trump plans to sign bipartisan legislation providing nearly $1.4 billion to build border barriers, but that fell short of the $5.7 billion he wanted.

Trump is expected to invoke executive powers to access another $6.6 billion. He says he'll sign a national emergency. That's expected to prompt lawsuits and challenges in Congress.

President Donald Trump plans to spend about $8 billion on border barriers, far more than Congress has given him for that purpose.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says Trump will tap various other sources of money beyond the nearly $1.4 billion in a government funding bill that Congress passed. Trump is expected to sign the bill.

Besides the money from Congress, Mulvaney said Friday that Trump plans to spend $600 million in Treasury forfeiture funds and $2.5 billion in Defense Department counterdrug money. Trump is also tapping about $3.6 billion worth of funds set aside for military construction projects.

Mulvaney says Trump is not tapping disaster relief money designated to help Texas and Puerto Rico following recent devastating hurricanes.

Trump's moves are expected to prompt lawsuits and challenges in Congress.

Congress has lopsidedly approved a border security compromise that would avert a second painful government shutdown.

But a new confrontation has been ignited. President Donald Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary is certain to be challenged.

Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said he'd sign the legislation passed Thursday but act unilaterally to get more. That prompted condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority. </s> WASHINGTON — Opponents of President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border appear to have enough Senate votes to reject his move, now that Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky has said he can't go along with the White House.

The House of Representatives has voted to derail the action, and if the Senate follows later this month, the measure would go to Trump for his promised veto.

Three other Republican senators have announced they'll vote "no": Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Paul makes it four, and assuming that all 47 Democrats and their independent allies go against Trump, that would give opponents 51 votes — just past the majority needed.

Congress is unlikely to have the votes to override a veto.

"I can't vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn't been appropriated by Congress," Paul said at a Republican dinner Saturday night at Western Kentucky University, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.

"We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn't authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it's a dangerous thing."

Many lawmakers opposed to the emergency declaration say it tramples on the constitutional power of Congress to control spending and would set a precedent for future Democratic presidents to make such a declaration for their own purposes. They are also concerned Trump would siphon money from home-state projects to barrier construction.

Under the declaration, Trump would divert $3.6 billion from military construction to erect more border barriers. He's invoking other powers to transfer an additional $3.1 billion to construction. </s> Hundreds of protests are planned nationwide Monday in response to President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump's declaration on Friday shifts billions of federal dollars earmarked for military construction to the border. The move to go around Congress to fund his long-promised border wall came after lawmakers in both parties blocked his requests for billions of dollars to fulfill his signature campaign pledge.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told ABC's "This Week" that his state would sue "imminently" to block the order, after the American Civil Liberties Union and the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen announced Friday they were taking legal action.

Democrats are planning to introduce a resolution disapproving of the declaration and it is likely to pass both chambers. Several Republican senators are already indicating they would vote against Trump — though there do not yet appear to be enough votes to override a veto by the president.

Some protests are listed on MoveOn.org and others can be found on rallylist.com.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House to declare a national emergency in order to build a wall along the southern border, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) </s> WASHINGTON (AP) - In a stunning rebuke, the Republican-controlled Senate has voted to terminate President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Senate voted 59-41 for a resolution to halt Trump's emergency order. Trump has promised to veto it, and it is unlikely that Congress will have the votes to override him.

Yet the vote represents a remarkable break between Trump and Senate Republicans. It's the first time Congress has used its power to reject a presidential emergency order.

Trump wants to use his declaration to steer $3.6 billion more to border barriers than lawmakers approved. He had warned Republicans to stick with him on the vote. He said doing otherwise would be siding with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But several Republicans defied that warning.

Trump wants to steer $3.6 billion more to border barriers than lawmakers approved. The move is also being challenged in court. </s> Wasting no time in responding to the Senate’s action Thursday to give final congressional approval to a resolution intended to block President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration, Trump vetoed the measure Friday.

“Consistent with the law and the legislative process designed by our Founders, today I am vetoing this resolution. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution, and I have the duty to veto it,” Trump said, according to a White House transcript.

The veto is the first of his presidency.

“I have to, in particular, thank the Republican — strong, wonderful people — the Republican senators that were on our side and on the side of border security and on the side of doing what they have to to keep our nation safe,” Trump said.

He later added that the vote for the resolution was “a vote against reality.”

Trump’s declaration was made under the National Emergency Act, which allows Congress to take action to block a presidential declaration.

Based on the House and Senate votes to pass the resolution, the declaration’s opponents do not have the votes to override the veto. On Thursday, 12 GOP senators joined with Democrats to oppose the emergency declaration.

Although Congress failed to stop the declaration, it will face court challenges.

Trump has said is necessary to spur construction of the border wall along the southern border between the United States and Mexico.

In a statement accompanying his veto, he said that “our porous southern border continues to be a magnet for lawless migration and criminals and has created a border security and humanitarian crisis that endangers every American.”

“Last month alone, (the Border Patrol) apprehended more than 76,000 aliens improperly attempting to enter the United States along the southern border — the largest monthly total in the last 5 years,” the president said.

Trump noted that the border allows huge quantities of illegal drugs into the nation, as well as individuals who commit crimes in the U.S.

“In other words, aliens coming across our border have injured or killed thousands of people, while drugs flowing through the border have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans,” he said.

The president said border security “is rapidly deteriorating because of who is arriving and how they are arriving.”

Noting that at one time most illegal immigrants were single adults from Mexico, Trump said that has changed.

“More recently, however, illegal migrants have organized into caravans that include large numbers of families and unaccompanied children from Central American countries,” he said. “Last year, for example, a record number of families crossed the border illegally. If the current trend holds, the number of families crossing in fiscal year 2019 will greatly surpass last year’s record total.

“Criminal organizations are taking advantage of these large flows of families and unaccompanied minors to conduct dangerous illegal activity, including human trafficking, drug smuggling, and brutal killings.”

Trump said that under current immigration laws, “the Government is forced to release many of them into the interior of the United States, pending lengthy judicial proceedings. Although many fail ever to establish any legal right to remain in this country, they stay nonetheless.”

In short, the president wrote, “This situation on our border cannot be described as anything other than a national emergency, and our Armed Forces are needed to help confront it.”

“Every day, the crisis on our border is deepening, and with new surges of migrants expected in the coming months, we are straining our border enforcement personnel and resources to the breaking point,” he said.

The resolution “ignores these realities,” the president said. “It is a dangerous resolution that would undermine United States sovereignty and threaten the lives and safety of countless Americans. It is, therefore, my duty to return it to the House of Representatives without my approval.”

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
U.S. President Donald Trump issues his first ever veto after Congress attempts to block his emergency declaration to fund construction of the wall along the Mexico–United States border.