A judge has just stopped President Joe Biden from attempting to use for other purposes funds that Congress has appropriated to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico.
Fox News reports that U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, a Trump appointee, made the ruling on Friday.
Biden, when he first became president, tried to put a stop to the building of the border wall, which former President Donald Trump had made significant progress on. Biden also vowed not to use the funds that had been appropriate by Congress for the building of the wall.
Fox explains, "[Friday's] ruling stems from a January 2021 proclamation by President Joe Biden that terminated the Trump-era national emergency at the southern border, and ordered a pause on the construction of the border wall."
The outlet adds, "The funds obligated to go to border wall funding in fiscal 2020 and 2021 appropriations were put on pause while agencies reviewed the matter."
Then, in 2022, Biden's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would be using the funds for such things as upgrading the border's lighting and cameras - but not for the building of the wall.
This is when the attorneys general of Texas and Missouri sued the Biden administration, arguing that the reappropriation of the funds by Biden was unconstitutional.
Now, Tipton has ruled that Biden is not allowed to use the funds for anything other than building the border wall.
To be clear, Tipton has placed a temporary injunction on the Biden administration, preventing it from redirecting the funds while litigation in this matter continues. In other words, the final ruling for the case has yet to be made.
Nonetheless, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) are celebrating their preliminary victory.
Both Paxton and Bailey have released statements accusing Biden of breaking the law.
"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," Bailey wrote.
Paxton, similarly, wrote:
🚨 Today, I secured a preliminary injunction against an attempt by the Biden Administration to illegally redirect statutorily obligated funds away from the construction of a border wall. Biden acted completely improperly by refusing to spend the money that Congress appropriated… https://t.co/MGBJD2nOya
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) March 9, 2024
Joe Biden has done many things that he accused his predecessor of doing. This is just one instance of Biden blatantly disregarding the separation of powers and acting in a dictatorial manner.
