REP. DON YOUNG VOTES TO SUPPORT PRESIDENT
The U.S. House of Representatives has failed to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a Democrat-led attempt to block his declaration of a national emergency on the border with Mexico.
The House needed 290 votes, but mustered only 248 in its effort block Trump’s veto of House Joint Resolution 46. Trump declared a national emergency on February 15, to direct funds to build a wall along the southern border. He used the authority of the National Emergencies Act; presidents have used the act nearly 60 times since it was enacted in 1976.
Alaska Congressman Don Young voted along with the majority of Republicans to support the president. Twelve Republicans voted with the Democrat majority.
The failure to override the veto allows the president to access up to $3.6 billion in military construction funds.
Congress has already appropriated substantial funding in past legislation — legislation that was supported by Democrats who today want to prevent Trump from fulfilling one of his main campaign promises.
More than 76,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended or deemed inadmissible at the southern border in February, according to the White House, which pointed to an “unprecedented surge in the number of alien families arriving at the southern border – more than 40,000 arrived last month.”
The president noted that apprehension of illegal immigrant families has spiked by 300 percent compared to the same period last year, and this has put a strain on resources at the border.
“As alien families arrive in record numbers, loopholes force the Government to release many of them into the interior, after which they often fail to appear in court. Large migrant groups are streaming to our border, with 70 groups of 100 or more migrants attempting to cross this year. By comparison, only 13 such groups attempted to cross last year,” the White House said.
The southern border is the primary highway for drugs such as cocaine, hero, methamphetamine and fentanyl. In the past two years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested 266,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records and deported 5,872 known or suspected gang members.
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