As President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to receive funding for the border wall. The Border Network for the Human Rights (BNHR) and El Paso county filed a lawsuit against the president’s declaration.
“This is a declaration of war against our immigrant communities. A declaration of war against refugees, asylum seekers, and families. This is not what America is about. I think the president should be ashamed of doing that,” said Fernando Garcia, Founding Director of the Border Network of Human Rights during a press conference Friday morning.
According to an article by The New York Times, after president Trump failed to obtain the funding for the border wall in a two-month battle with lawmakers, the president argued that the flow of drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants from Mexico were a threat to national security that justified the call for a national emergency.
BNHR will receive help from Protect Democracy and the Niskanen Center, two non-profit organizations that will provide BNHR with resources for the lawsuit.
“This, as it has in the past, will continue to do damage to us, to our community. When it comes to things like attracting businesses, attracting doctors, health care professionals, people that we need to come to our community, it’s going to continue to damage our tourism industry,” said County Commissioner, David Stout.