Trump Signs First Veto of His Presidency to Satisfy His Anti-Immigrant Base

President Trump has decided to use his first veto to prevent Latinos arriving at the Mexican border from seeking asylum. As the 2020 presidential election approaches, Trump is determined to keep his campaign promise to his anti-immigrant, intolerant base to “build a wall.”

There is no national emergency at the border. Trump admitted so himself last month when he said he “didn’t need to” declare the national emergency but wanted to get the barriers up quicker. But Trump is dead-set on creating one.

He has claimed undocumented immigrants bring crime and drugs into the United States at alarming levels.

“There is no nationwide data set on crime committed by undocumented immigrants, so researchers have tried to tease the answer from less-than-complete data,” according to The Washington Post. “Yet study after study shows that illegal immigration does not lead to increased crime, violence or drug problems. In fact, the studies indicate that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans.”

Friday afternoon, he rejected a bi-partisan bill that would end the national emergency he declared at the southern U.S. border. The bill had support from 12 Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate but at this time it seems that neither chamber of Congress has enough support to reach the two-thirds majority needed to override Trump’s veto.

Trump also shot down a Republican plan to limit executive power so that future Democratic presidents couldn’t declare these types of emergencies for their own agendas such as for climate change or gun violence.

But Trump’s veto isn’t the end of the battle. The administration still has to fight court challenges from more than 12 states and several outside groups that have filed lawsuits against the national emergency.

Trump’s plan is to take already approved Defense Department money to build his border wall. He was only given $1.4 million but he wants $5.7 billion.

Democrats have another plan now too: to override Trump’s veto on March 26, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. At this point however, it is not expected to meet the necessary two-thirds majority.

The fight is not likely to go away anytime soon, especially if Trump wins the presidency again in 2020. Trump asked for an additional $8.6 billion for border barriers in his recently released fiscal 2020 budget.​

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