What do you think of President Trump's declaration?
President Donald Trump has been promising a wall at the southern border since early in his campaign. He followed through with his own speculation since before the government shutdown that he might declare a national emergency in order to shift funds around to fund construction.
Friday, he made an official announcement.
"We're going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border," the president said from the Rose Garden.
The declaration and subsequent action would circumvent Congress, which refused to budget the several billion dollars he wanted for the wall.
Administration sources, it was reported, said that Trump would use emergency powers to divert money from other projects -- mostly military construction efforts -- to build as many as 234 miles of border fences. The action would free up as much as $6.6 billion in additional funding.
That would mean a total of some $8 billion, including the $1.3 billion included in a spending bill that was set to reach Trump's desk later Friday or Saturday.