Trump news: President begrudgingly signs border bill and declares national emergency at US-Mexico border

President predicts lengthy legal battle over national emergency reaching all the way to Supreme Court

Donald Trump declares national emergency to release funds for border wall

Donald Trump has declared a national emergency in a bid to fund his promised wall at the US-Mexico border without congressional approval, an action Democrats vowed to challenge as a violation of the US Constitution.

The Republican president’s move to circumvent Congress represented a new approach to making good on a 2016 presidential campaign pledge to halt the flow of undocumented immigrants into the country, whom the president says bring crime and drugs.

He also later signed a bipartisan government spending bill Congress approved on Thursday that would prevent another partial government shutdown by funding several agencies that otherwise would have closed on Saturday.

Mr Trump made no direct mention in rambling Rose Garden comments of the funding bill. It represents a legislative defeat for him since it contains no money for his proposed wall - the focus of weeks of conflict between him and Democrats in Congress.

He had demanded that Congress provide him with billions in wall funding as part of legislation to fund the agencies. That triggered a historic, 35-day December-January government shutdown that hurt the US economy and his opinion poll numbers.

By reorienting his quest for wall funding toward a legally uncertain strategy based on declaring a national emergency, Mr Trump risks plunging into a lengthy legislative and legal battle with Democrats and dividing his fellow Republicans.

At least 15 Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate introduced legislation on Thursday to prevent Mr Trump from invoking emergency powers to transfer funds to his wall from accounts Congress has already committed to other projects.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer swiftly responded to Trump’s declaration.

“The president’s actions clearly violate the Congress’s exclusive power of the purse, which our Founders enshrined in the Constitution,” they said in a statement. “The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the courts, and in the public, using every remedy available.”

Reuters contributed to this report. Check out The Independent's live coverage of the president's national emergency declaration below:

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Key Points

• President signs government funding bill
• Trump declares national emergency to get border wall built

[15 February 2019 13:42 · Chris Riotta]

We're expecting the president to speak from the Rose Garden at 10:00am during an event where he's slated to sign a funding bill that would avoid another government shutdown. 

Meanwhile, Donald Trump appears to have just been handed his first Republican challenger for the White House in 2020: 

[15 February 2019 13:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's a sign of the times.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders apparently tweeted the president's intention to declare a national emergency using the Notes app on her iPhone "like everyone else would have done on a Thursday night while planning their weekend", as Greg Evans so aptly puts it.

[15 February 2019 14:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

President Trump himself and gun violence have already been proposed as more suitable subjects for a "national emergency" declaration than the so-called southern border crisis.

Indiana mayor and possible 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttgieg has another suggestion: climate change.

Appearing on CNN's New Day, Mr Buttgieg also took the opportunity to say vice-president Mike Pence, a devout Christian, had "embarrassed" their shared home state over his stance on gay rights. 

"He genuinely believes things that most of us would consider really far out... He seems to believe people like me just get up and decide to be gay. His worldview is one that is way out of step with the American mainstream," Mr Buttgieg said.

[15 February 2019 14:12 · Chris Riotta]

Just before Donald Trump is expected to declare a national emergency over the US-Mexico border, a coalition of civil and human rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit against the administration's new policies surrounding asylum seekers.

[15 February 2019 14:30 · Chris Riotta]

After Donald Trump delivers his remarks at 10am, he is expected to receive an intelligence briefing at 11:30am. 

There is nothing listed on the president’s schedule after that point until 4:00pm, when he and the first lady are scheduled to depart for Mar-A-Lago in Florida. 

[15 February 2019 14:45 · Chris Riotta]

Donald Trump is expected to deliver remarks on the border and funding bill from the White House in 15 minutes. Stay tuned as The Independent brings you the latest. 

Meanwhile, here’s some background on the issue:

[15 February 2019 15:00 · Chris Riotta]

The president is expected to arrive in the White House Rose Garden momentarily.

[15 February 2019 15:20 · Chris Riotta]

First Son Donald Trump Jr has posted a misleading border wall meme to social media as his father is expected to declare a national emergency along the US-Mexico border:

[15 February 2019 15:30 · Chris Riotta]

Donald Trump is planning to spend $8bn (£6.2bn) towards his campaign promise through the following allocations, via CNN:

$1.375bn (£1bn) from the Homeland Security appropriations bill towards barrier funding

$600m (£468m) from the Treasury Department's drug forfeiture fund

$2.5 billion (£1.9bn) from the Defence Department's drug interdiction program

$3.5 billion (£2.7) from the Defence Department's military construction budget

[15 February 2019 15:37 · Chris Riotta]

The president is expected to arrive in the White House Rose Garden within the next two minutes, per sources.