President Trump vows to ‘immediately’ appeal federal judge’s border wall funding block

President Trump vows to ‘immediately’ appeal federal judge’s border wall funding block and threatens ICE raids as early as next week, pledging to ‘remove large numbers of immigrants’

  • President Trump vowed to ‘immediately’ appeal a federal judge’s ruling blocking funding for his border wall on Saturday, in a post G-20 summit press conference
  • The Trump administration recently passed a bill to free up $4.6 billion to address the humanitarian crisis currently plaguing the US-Mexico border 
  • However, Trump took a knock on Friday when a judge blocked Trump from using $2.5 billion of military funds to build border walls in high-priority areas
  • Trump says a wall along the US-Mexico border is needed to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs, but he has so far been unable to convince Congress 
  • Trump also said that he plans to move forward with his controversial plan to conduct a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids next week 

President Trump vowed to ‘immediately’ appeal a federal judge’s ruling blocking funding for his border wall on Saturday, while also reviving threats to commence with deportation raids next week.

His hard-line immigration plans were unveiled in a press conference following is appearance at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

The Trump administration recently – and narrowly – passed a bill to free up $4.6 billion to address the humanitarian crisis currently plaguing the US-Mexico border.

But a separate Trump policy took a stern knock in California on Friday when Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. blocked the president from using $2.5 billion of military funds to build border wall segments in high-priority areas across California, Arizona and New Mexico.

President Trump vowed to ‘immediately’ appeal a federal judge’s ruling blocking funding for his border wall on Saturday, in a post G-20 summit press conference

Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr.

The plans took a stern knock in California on Friday when Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. blocked the president from using $2.5 billion of military funds to build border wall segments in high-priority areas across California, Arizona and New Mexico

In California on Friday Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. (left) blocked the president from using $2.5 billion of military funds to build border wall segments in high-priority areas across California, Arizona and New Mexico

Judge Gilliam presided over two lawsuits filed by the state of California and by activists who argued the transfer of funds was unlawful and the construction project would pose threats to the environment.

‘We’re immediately appealing it and we think we’ll win the appeal,’ Trump said during the conference, calling the decision a disgrace. ‘There was no reason that that should have happened.’

Trump says construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border is needed to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs, but he has so far been unable to get congressional approval to do so.

‘These rulings critically stop President Trump’s illegal money grab to divert $2.5 billion of unauthorized funding for his pet project,’ California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement late on Friday. ‘All President Trump has succeeded in building is a constitutional crisis, threatening immediate harm to our state.’ 

The Trump administration recently – and narrowly – passed a bill to free up $4.6 billion to address the humanitarian crisis currently plaguing the US-Mexico border

The Trump administration recently – and narrowly – passed a bill to free up $4.6 billion to address the humanitarian crisis currently plaguing the US-Mexico border

A FOX News chart shows the rising number of apprehensions at the border have almost quadrupled between October and May

A FOX News chart shows the rising number of apprehensions at the border have almost quadrupled between October and May

In addition to his impending appeal, Trump also said that he’s seeking to move forward with his controversial plan to conduct a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids next week. 

‘We will be removing large numbers of people… starting in a week after, you know, sometime after July 4,’ Trump said.

Last week he postponed the raids for 10 major cities, granting a two-week delay to see if a bi-partisan agreement on immigration ‘asylum and loophole’ reform could be found in Congress.  

‘The Democrats it seems to me they want to have open borders,’ Trump said. 

‘Unless we do something pretty miraculous [in striking a deal]… we will be removing large numbers of people,’ he added 

In addition to his impending appeal, Trump also said that he's seeking to move forward with his controversial plan to conduct a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids next week

In addition to his impending appeal, Trump also said that he’s seeking to move forward with his controversial plan to conduct a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids next week

The scheduled raids have sparked fearsome debate inside the Department of Homeland security and have outraged Democrats. 

But the past week has been primarily dominated by negotiations over the $4.6 billion humanitarian aid bill, which was passed just before the holiday recess. 

Trump expressed his gratitude to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for helping to pass the bill. 

She backed down from an effort to alter the legislation, saying instead that the House would ‘reluctantly’ take up the Senate bill ‘to get resources to the children fastest.’

‘We did get in a very bipartisan way, and I appreciate Speaker Pelosi because she really worked with us. It was humanitarian money,’ Trump said in praise.

However the president said the bill’s passing doesn’t make ICE raids any less likely, adding, ‘We can have that number go way down if we stop people from coming up’.

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