About fifty Homer residents protested President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency, allowing him to spend billions of dollars on a U.S.-Mexico border wall, Monday. The rally at Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love Park was organized in coordination with hundreds of other similar protests nationwide to push back on what they see as a power grab from the president.
Art Koeninger helped organize the local protest. It was one of nearly 300 events held nationwide put on by the progressive political group Move On and other organizations.
Residents held signs such as “Trump is the Crisis,” “Put the Wall Around Trump,” and “Build Bridges, Not Walls.”
Koeninger wants to send a message: there is no emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“There are better ways to spend our money, that the president should not have the ability to take the money that the Congress has appropriated for one purpose and to change it to a different purpose without congressional approval,” he said.
Trump declared a national emergency Friday in order to access billions of dollars to build the wall after Congress refused to fully fund it. The New York Times reports that it’s unprecedented for a president to use a national emergency declaration to bypass Congress for funding it rejected.
“There have been national emergencies, but this is an abuse of that power and unfortunately it may have to go to the Supreme Court,” he said.
Sixteen states are suing the Trump administration over the declaration. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco Monday, argues that Congress controls spending and the president does not have power to divert funds for a wall.
Protestor Julia Person agrees that Trump is overstepping his powers and worries the president’s action could sets a bad precedent.
“As far as I'm concerned, a wall is not the emergency,” she said. “If he's going to declare an emergency, pick healthcare, pick climate change. Both of those I think are more national emergencies for us than a wall.”
But others do see a national emergency at the border. On Friday, https://vimeo.com/317596575">Governor Mike Dunleavy said that Alaska National Guard stands ready to address the “national security crisis on the U.S. southern border.”
“I think it's right on par with his budget and every other thing he said, which is idiocy,” she said.
Protestors like Jerry Migdal want to see a more welcoming policy toward immigrants. Migdal’s entire family is from Poland, and he says they sought asylum in the U.S.
“I'll never forget them coming here below age of 13,” he said. “How would those young people ever get into America today? This is wrong. We should tear it down before it begins.”
He sees people coming for the same reasons as his family did.
“People wanting to have a decent life: watch your children, be happy, grow and prosper,” he said. “It’s a universal thing I think.”
On Friday, the House Judiciary Committee said it would investigate the president's declaration and House Democrats plan to introduce legislation to challenge it.
