On February 15, Trump declared a 'national emergency' at the southern border of the United States so that he could build his wall even though Congress did not put allocate enough money in the budget to it.
Trump's 'concerns' were that the U.S. border is where kidnappers, murderers, etc. are coming in from other countries unauthorized.
But, are the numbers with him?
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data suggests no.
According to The Washington Post, on February 9, less than a week prior to the 'national emergency,' "nearly 63 percent of the detainees in ICE ails had not been convicted of any crime."
About 48,800 immigrants are being held in detention by ICE, and yet only approximately 18,100 had criminal records. While officials claimed that approximately 5,700 immigrants had pending criminal charges, they could not give any additional details to substantiate these claims.
Approximately 60 percent of all of the immigration detainees in this fiscal year had no criminal history whatsoever.
The director of the Center for Migration Studies, Kevin Appleby said, "It proves this is a fake emergency...it really shows that what the president's doing is abusing his power based on false information."
ICE Deputy, Matthew Albence, had said during budget discussions that all unlawful immigrants have broken the law "by coming here illegally, or coming here legally and overstaying their visas."
When Trump declared the 'national emergency,' he said, "It's an invasion...we have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country that we stop, but it's very hard to stop. With a wall, it would be very easy."
According to the House Democrats, a vote will be held on Tuesday to terminate Trump's 'national emergency.' While it seems likely that the Democrats will be able to pass their measure in the House, the Senate is still up in the air.
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