Democrats have said declaring a national emergency to divert funds to build a border wall violates Congress' power over the purse. The bill faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Senate and a veto threat.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Brandon
Advertisement
The US House of Representatives has approved a resolution blocking President Donald Trump from obtaining funding to build a border wall with Mexico by declaring a national emergency.
The Democrat-controlled House voted 245-182 in favor of the legislation, in a move designed to prevent Trump from diverting several billion dollars in federal funds to build a wall along the southern border.
Thirteen Republicans backed the resolution introduced by Democrats last week.
The bill will now go the Republican-controlled Senate, where its prospects of passing are uncertain.
Trump plans to veto
Trump has said he will issue his first veto if the bill comes to his desk for a signature.
Overcoming a veto requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress, an unlikely scenario.
Trump and many Republicans have said the wall is needed to address a security and humanitarian crisis along the border with Mexico. Democrats have argued the emergency declaration violates Congress' constitutional power to allocate federal funds.
Trump declared the national emergency on February 15 after securing less than $1.4 billion (€1.2 billion) of the $5.7 billion he demanded from Congress for the border wall.
The Trump administration plans to redirect several billion from the Pentagon budget for military construction projects to build the wall.
Central American immigrants turn to Mexico
Most migrants to the United States from the so-called "Northern Triangle" of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are staying in Mexico for now — because of Donald Trump's new immigration policies.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
No longer first choice
In a migrant shelter in the southern Mexican city of Tenosique, near the Guatemalan border, a refugee from Honduras says he originally planned to move to the United States with his family. Trump's election has changed everything. "I wanted to go to the United States with my family, but we've seen that the new government there has made things harder."
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Lingering in Mexico
Concepcion Bautista from Guatemala cradles her newborn son in the same migrant shelter. She says she plans to head for the United States, but will linger in Mexico to see how US President Donald Trump's immigration policies play out. Her goal is to reunite with her family up north...
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
A mere transit country?
…but for the time being, she believes applying for asylum in Mexico is a smarter move. Mexican asylum data and testimony from migrants in Tenosique suggest that although fewer Central Americans are trying to enter the US, plenty are still fleeing their poor, violent home countries, with many deciding to stay longer in Mexico, which has traditionally been a transit country.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Tough immigration policies
The Trump administration has pointed out a sharp decline in immigrant detentions in the first few months of this year as a vindication for the president's tough immigration policies. The measures are already having another effect. In California, where farmers usually rely on workers from Mexico to bring in the harvest, many Mexicans are staying away, preferring to find work in their own country.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Asylum applications on the rise
Migrants from Central America play football in the migrant shelter in Tenosique. The number of people applying for asylum in Mexico has soared by more than 150 percent since Trump was elected president. These days, Mexican immigrants would rather set up in Canada than the United States.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Human smugglers up the price
One man from Guatemala says the prices charged by people smugglers have risen sharply since Trump took office, now hovering around $10,000 (9,100 euros), up from about $6,000 a few years ago. Migrants sit below a mural in Mexico with the words: "Our demand is minimal: justice."
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
A new home
With Mexico's immigration authorities controlling migration more assiduously, Central Americans were forced to take more isolated, dangerous routes where the chances of being mugged were higher. "We've gone north several times, but every time it's got harder," says one man, who was deported from the United States in December. "Now, it's better if we travel alone, along new routes."
