Statement by the Press Secretary on a District Court Decision Related to Immigration

Last evening, a district judge in Texas issued another improper nationwide injunction, this time preventing the Administration from using a key source of funds to finish the southwest border wall. A Federal statute authorizes the use of the funds by empowering the Secretary of Defense to "undertake military construction projects" to support the Armed Forces during a national emergency. The district court issued a nationwide injunction on the theory that building the wall is causing "reputational" harm and economic disruption to a Texas county and an advocacy group in that county. But the court's injunction sweeps far broader than that and blocks multiple projects that are hundreds of miles away and have nothing to do with these plaintiffs. The Supreme Court has already stayed one erroneous injunction blocking the use of a different statutory authority to build the border wall and the Administration plans to immediately appeal this incorrect decision, too.