Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced on Tuesday that he has secured a court order mandating the current administration to allocate congressionally appropriated funds to complete the border wall initiated by former President Donald Trump to combat illegal immigration into the United States.
A press release from the Attorney General’s office features a statement by Bailey where he says, “The Biden Administration has failed to abide by the law to finish the construction of a wall along the southwest border. Joe Biden refuses to carry out his constitutionally mandated responsibilities, so we took him to court to force him to do his job. This is a huge step forward in the fight to secure our border at a key moment in our nation’s history.”
In the 2020 fiscal year, Congress passed legislation explicitly requiring the President to construct barriers along the southern border to prevent unauthorized entry into the United States. The bill allocated $1.4 billion specifically for the completion of the wall, stipulating that the funds would “only be available for construction of the barrier systems along the southwest border.” However, the Biden administration has refused to comply with this mandate. When the administration was confronted with its lack of compliance with the order, it responded by saying, “[i]t is not the policy of this administration” because “[w]e do not agree with the building of a wall.” DHS expressed its intention to “end wall expansion.”
Continuing, Bailey’s press release added: “The Administration even ‘call[ed] on Congress to cancel remaining border wall funding’ because they knew that without congressional action, they would need to use the appropriated funds for their specified purpose: finish the construction of President Trump’s border wall. Yet when Congress did not capitulate to its demands, the Biden Administration ignored its constitutional obligations to abide by Congress’ appropriations laws and opted not to use the funding for the purpose Congress directed.”
That led Bailey, along with Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush, to file a federal lawsuit charging the Biden regime with a constitutional violation. The administration argued, among other things, that Bailey did not have any standing to challenge its refusal to abide by a congressional spending mandate, but the U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, writing for the Southern District of Texas, disagreed and on Tuesday ordered the administration to resume construction of the wall.
Bailey explained in a tweet: “I obtained a court order forcing border czar @KamalaHarris and @JoeBiden to finish President Trump’s border wall. They decided NOT to appeal, making our win FINAL. The rest of President Trump’s border wall is going up because of this lawsuit.”
?BREAKING: I obtained a court order forcing border czar @KamalaHarris and @JoeBiden to finish President Trump’s border wall.
They decided NOT to appeal, making our win FINAL.
The rest of President Trump’s border wall is going up because of this lawsuit.
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) July 30, 2024