20 states sign motion to block Trump's border wall funding

Washington D.C. [USA], Apr 6 (ANI): Twenty U.S. states on Friday signed a motion to block President Donald Trump's attempts to divert federal funds to build a wall along the US' border with Mexico.
"This wall is unnecessary, and an abuse of power that will take away resources that could be used to help Americans across our nation," New York Attorney General Letitia James tweeted.
The motion, filed late on Thursday, came while the US President headed to California on Friday in a fresh bid to make border security a central campaign issue for his 2020 presidential campaign.
In February, the states had filed a lawsuit after Trump declared a national emergency to help build the border wall, Al Jazeera reported.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the House of Representatives will sue to block President Trump's transfer of money to pay for the wall.
"The President's action clearly violates the Appropriations Clause by stealing from appropriated funds, an action that was not authorised by constitutional or statutory authority," Pelosi was quoted as saying.
Pelosi added that a congressional legal advisory group voted to authorise the lawsuit.
The US President had previously voiced his disdain for the influx of illegal immigrants from the US-Mexico border. His demand for USD five billion in funding for a wall on this border and the US Congress' subsequent denial of the money led to the United States government's longest-ever partial shutdown in the nation's history.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon notified the US Congress that it had transferred USD one billion to begin new wall construction at the US-Mexico border at the behest of the US President.
This drew immediate objections from Democratic lawmakers, who have been against Trump's initiative, going as far as labelling it as a waste of taxpayer money.
Trump on Thursday also threatened to impose tariffs on automobiles made in Mexico and close the southern US border if the country did not stop "massive amounts of drugs" coming into the US within one year. (ANI)