Trump Plans On Taking $7.2 Billion From Pentagon To Fund Border Wall Construction

President Donald Trump is planning to divert $7.2 billion from the Pentagon’s budget and use it as additional funding for the border wall project in 2020. According to The Washington Post, the amount is five times authorized by Congress as this year’s budget for border wall construction based on internal planning figures obtained by the publication.

The amount is even greater than what President Trump diverted from Pentagon last year. In 2019, the White House diverted $2.5 billion from counterdrug programs and $3.6 billion from military construction funds or a total of $6.1 billion.

This year, The Washington Post wrote that Trump will get $3.5 billion from counter-drug programs and another $3.7 billion from military construction funds. This would be the second year in a row that the President diverted money for the U.S.-Mexico border wall project.

With the additional funding, the Trump administration would have enough money for the completion of 885 miles of new fencing by 2022. This is 376 miles more than the 509 miles of border fencing originally planned by the government.

According to The Hill, the Defense Department refused to make a comment on the diversion of funds. The White House, on the other hand, is yet to reply to the publication’s request for comment.

At the moment, the administration only completed around 101 miles of new fencing. This is way below the 450 miles Donald Trump previously promised to complete by the end of 2020.

An El Paso, Texas federal-district court froze $3.6 billion that the administration set aside for the project. The court ruled that the funds were authorized by Congress for another purpose. However, the White House appealed and the ruling was reversed last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans.

But many groups were unimpressed by White House’s move. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it would continue to fight what it views as an illegal power grab by Donald Trump.

“Multiple courts have already ruled that President Trump has no authority to take billions from service members for his xenophobic wall,” ACLU staff attorney Dror Ladin said. “The ACLU won't rest until the president's illegal power grab is blocked once and for all.”