House Vote to Block Trump’s Fake Emergency Is a Stand Against Racism, For Democracy
Feb. 26, 2019
House Vote to Block Trump’s Fake Emergency Is a Stand Against Racism, For Democracy
Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen
In voting to overturn President Donald Trump’s fake emergency declaration, the U.S. House of Representatives just took a stand for our democracy and against racism. Now U.S. Senate Republicans and Democrats will be tested to see if they stand for principle.
The stakes couldn’t be higher: If Trump merely can shout “emergency” and thereby gain the power to violate the law and the Constitution, then it’s a virtual certainty that he will declare additional emergencies, with potentially much broader application than construction of a border wall.
Also at issue is the very character of our country. There is no emergency at the border, other than the humanitarian emergency of Trump’s own making, as he illegally excludes those seeking asylum in the U.S. Every purported justification for constructing a border wall has been decisively disproved. The real point of the border wall is to serve as a monument to racism and anti-immigrant bigotry.
The Senate should follow the House in refusing to tolerate such a stain on our nation.
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