A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump‘s plan to reallocate $1 billion from the Dept. of Defense and use it to build his wall on the Southern border.
U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam issued the order Friday evening halting Trump’s use of any Pentagon funds to pay for his wall. The ruling applies only to Pentagon funds, according to Politico, which first reported on the story.
Judge Gilliam’s ruling “only limits construction in specific border areas in Texas and Arizona and does not prevent the administration from tapping other funding sources to advance those projects.,” Politico notes.
Trump had issued an executive order claiming there is a national emergency, a ploy to get around Congress so he could begin construction on the wall he repeatedly promised voters Mexico would pay for.
UPDATE: 9:40 PM –
Calling it “a major victory for a group of plaintiffs, led by the Sierra Club,” the Washington Post adds that the ruling is a temporary injunction and it is expected the administration will appeal.
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Image by U.S. Customs and Border Protection via Flickr