WASHINGTON: Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan has authorised $1 billion to build part of the wall sought by Donald Trump along the US-Mexico border, the first funds designated for the project under the president's emergency declaration. The White House has laid out an ambitious 2020 budget proposal which contains $8.6 billion in new wall funding, above the $5.7 billion Trump sought for this year. The White House has signalled it will seek to repurpose some $6 billion from military funds, without specifying which Pentagon programs would be slashed. Trump has made border security an over-arching domestic issue and says it will remain at the centre of the agenda in his 2020 reelection bid. The lawsuit also questioned Trump's categorization of illegal border crossings as a national emergency, saying data issued by the administration itself refuted the notion.

Source: Bangkok Post March 26, 2019 06:45 UTC