SAN DIEGO — Attorney General Xavier Becerra is looking to permanently block President Donald Trump from building the border wall in a newly filed lawsuit on behalf of the state of California.
Becerra argues that Trump illegally diverted $2.5 billion in funding to construct a border wall. The lawsuit claims the President’s actions are unlawful, threaten democratic institutions and cause irreparable harm to the state.
New Mexico has joined California in the suit, which details the environmental impact the wall would have on the states, including to natural resources and wildlife.
“The federal government sets a floor of what environmental laws are. States have the right to go above that floor that the federal government has set. They can’t go below it but they can have more stringent requirements if they want to,” explained political analyst Meredith Levin.
“And they’re saying the federal government doing this is infringing on their rights as sovereign states and its going to interfere with their own environmental laws,” Levin said.
Levin said if the states win in court, the President has a number of options including appealing the decision or going to Congress to try to get more border money.
