The Trump administration has asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to issue an emergency stay on a lower court order blocking them from beginning construction on a wall at the southern border.
In a court filing late Monday, lawyers for the administration argued that Judge Haywood Gilliam’s preliminary injunction issued last month “imposes irreparable harm” because it blocks the Defense Department “from completing the two projects at issue, which are necessary to block identified drug-smuggling corridors identified by the Department of Homeland Security as among its highest priority projects.”
{mosads}The request says the Defense Department has already reprogrammed $424 million for the border wall construction, but has not yet used those funds for construction contracts and cannot do so while the preliminary injunction is in place.
“Unless those funds are obligated by September 30, 2019, the money will no longer remain available to DoD,” the document reads.
The administration asked the appeals court to make a decision by June 17.
The filing came hours after a federal judge in D.C. rejected House Democrats’ request for a preliminary injunction in a separate case to stop Trump from using military funds for wall construction.
Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, ruled that the House didn’t have standing to sue the administration.
Trump earlier this year declared a national emergency in order to tap military funds for his border wall, after Congress refused to include his requested amount of border security funds in a government spending bill.