LAREDO, TX — The Rio Grande International Study Center has joined a lawsuit challenging the president’s declaration of a national emergency on the southern border.
Earthjustice filed the lawsuit late Thursday in Washington D.C. on behalf of RGISC and other individuals and entities arguing that new sections of President Trump’s border wall would have “real and dire impacts for communities living along the border.”
The lawsuit comes on the heels of broad, bipartisan House and Senate rejection of the president’s attempt to declare a state of national emergency and build additional miles of wall along the Rio Grande.
“I’m proud of RGISC for taking a big part in this litigation,” attorney and RGISC Board member Richard G. Morales Jr. said. “I believe that the President’s actions were unconstitutional. Article I states that all government funding should originate in the House of Representatives. The action by President Trump is clearly unconstitutional and at least 12 Republican Senators had the courage to pass the resolution opposing his declaration. The strict constructionists who are justices in the U.S. Supreme Court should not have any problems in ruling that the declaration isn’t constitutional based on a literal reading of the Constitution. This is why I believe that this and other similar lawsuits will eventually prevail in the Supreme Court.”
When the president announced his declaration of a national emergency for the entire southern border, on Feb. 15, approximately $3 billion was earmarked for a Wall that would span 55 to 130 miles and cut through all of Laredo, and possibly all of Webb County and a large section of Zapata County.
“We live in some of the safest and most economically dynamic cities in the country,” RGISC Executive Director Tricia Cortez said. “There is no emergency here.”
This past week, RGISC and a new coalition of ranchers, landowners, community activists launched a new campaign on March 14 called “Where’s the National Emergency?”
“The president’s declaration of a national emergency on the southern border — so laced with racism and extreme measures that can change our lives and the life of the Río Grande that sustains us — is an historic, defining opportunity for those of us who live here to stand together to say: there is no emergency; we do not live in lawlessness,” LareDOS publisher and RGISC Board Member Meg Guerra said.
“The Rio Grande International Study Center is proud to be part of this legal challenge to the president’s Draconian plan that will affect humankind and wildlife alike,” Guerra added. We speak up for every living thing that takes life from this river. We are for a more effective and humane immigration policy. We are for securing the border with a virtual wall.”
The Rio Grande binds two countries and cultures and is the only source of drinking water for an estimated 6 million people. Its beautiful landscape serves as a critical wildlife corridor that supports hundreds of species of plants and animals.
For 25 years, RGISC has worked to protect and preserve the Rio Grande and its watershed for our community and future generations.
“Today the threat we face from President Trump’s desperate Declaration of a National Emergency —a political ploy that ignores the facts to advance a false agenda — threatens not only the only source of drinking water for this community but also our way of life,” RGISC Board President Melissa R. Cigarroa said.
Sarah Burt, lead attorney for Earthjustice on the case, agreed. “The President’s abuse of emergency powers to override the will of Congress is a blatant power grab,” Burt said. “It not only goes against our basic form of government, but also harms those who live, work and worship along the border. We’re going to court to stand up for these communities.”
Cigarroa explained why the RGISC Board of Directors agreed to join the lawsuit.
“The Board stands with our community in shining a light on how ignorant, misguided, unnecessary and wrong a physical barrier would be between two allies whose shared history has shaped almost half of the territory of the United States,” Cigarroa said.
“Laredo is a gateway not just for trade but for people who come to marvel at the vast opportunities that exist for the future prosperity of families. That richness in diversity gave strength to this community at its inception and has continued to contribute to its growth,” Cigarroa added. We won’t let that go, nor should we be asked to, for a vanity project that obscures the real needs in immigration policy and smart security.”
The full text of the complaint is available here.
Earthjustice is the nation’s largest nonprofit environmental law organization that leverages its expertise and commitment to fight for justice and advance the promise of a healthy world for all.
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Chartered by the state of Texas in 1994, RGISC is an environmental nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and preserve the Rio Grande and its environment through advocacy, public awareness campaigns, youth education projects and binational partnerships.
Tricia and Maria Eugenia, although I am in Sevilla. Spain, where people agree Trump is insane, my heart is with you, with our river and our heritage. Viva La Causa! Si se puede! Thank you so much for your hard and dedicated work.