Illinois attorney general joins 16 others in challenging Trump’s wall declaration
By CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS STAFF
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has joined 16 other state attorneys general in challenging President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the U.S. southern border.
Led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the attorneys argue that both Trump’s declaration and the subsequent diversion of funds for a border wall — only possible as a result of the declaration — are unconstitutional and unlawful.
“Diverting funds that have been appropriated by Congress is a violation of the U.S. Constitution,” Raoul said Monday, Feb. 18, in a news release. “My office joined this lawsuit because I am committed to fighting this abuse of power.”
Congress gave Trump only $1.375 billion for new border barriers last week, part of an agreement to avoid another government shutdown.
Trump, however, would divert more than $6.5 billion for a wall by redirecting federal dollars from other programs for drug trade interruption, military construction and law enforcement initiatives, according to a Monday New York Times article.
Raoul and the other attorneys general say this action exceeds the power of the executive office. They seek to block the declaration and the wall construction through a court injunction.
Jeff Rogers
Jeff has more than 30 years’ experience working for newspapers as a reporter and editor. He was the editor of daily newspapers in northern Illinois and Wisconsin before joining as Capitol News Illinois’ editor, where he oversees the news service’s development, growth and fundraising. He grew up in Lanark in northwest Illinois and has a journalism degree from Bradley University in Peoria.
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Full biography
Jeff Rogers is the editor of Capitol News Illinois. He has been director of the Illinois Press Foundation since October 2018.
Before joining the Foundation, Rogers had been a newspaper editor in Illinois and Wisconsin since 1994. He was editor of daily papers in Freeport and Galesburg in Illinois, and in Monroe, Wisconsin. He also was editor of the Freeport iNK weekly newspaper from 2003 to 2005. For the past 9 years, Rogers was editor of the Daily Gazette of Sterling and the Telegraph of Dixon, daily paper owned and operated by Shaw Media.
Rogers is a 1988 graduate of Bradley University in Peoria. He grew up in Lanark, in northwest Illinois.
“Having been in newsrooms since graduating from college, I have a strong sense of how Capitol News Illinois can help newspapers across the state,” Rogers said. “This is an exciting opportunity to help the industry in Illinois by providing coverage of state government that most of our newspapers are not getting. In the bigger picture, it’s an opportunity to help Illinois residents reconnect with their state government.”
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