Attorney General Becerra Responds to Federal Court Order Finding Trump Administration’s Diversion of Military Construction Funds for Congressionally-Rejected Border Wall Unlawful

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today responded to a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California declaring unlawful President Trump’s diversion of $3.6 billion in funding for military construction projects to build a border wall. The decision grants in part the Plaintiffs’ motions for partial summary judgment filed by the nine-state coalition led by Attorney General Becerra and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) to stop the Trump Administration from moving forward with plans to divert funding and begin construction of border barriers in California, New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The Court stayed the permanent injunction, granted to Sierra Club and SBCC, pending appeal.   

“We applaud the court for declaring unlawful President Trump’s desperate attempt to divert money from important military construction projects to build his unnecessary border wall Congress refused to fund,” said Attorney General Becerra. “This is a critical victory that sends a strong message to the White House: you are not above the law.”

Attorney General Becerra filed a motion on October 11, 2019 to protect more than $400 million in funds intended for military construction projects in plaintiff States and to prevent them and other diverted military construction project funds from being diverted toward the construction of seven border barrier projects within California and New Mexico. The proposed projects would have financially harmed the plaintiff States by diverting funding from military construction projects, which would have brought hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and interstate benefits to their economies and would reduce their tax revenues by over $36 million. Specifically at risk in California was $8 million allotted for the construction of a flight simulator facility used to train military personnel on aerial firefighting and rescue operations.

A copy of today’s decision can be found here.