Delaware Tech Owens Campus students and staff gave their opinion on President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency for a southern border wall Tuesday, March 5.
President Trump made the declaration Friday, February 15 in order to gain access to roughly $8 million to fund a wall. The money would be taken from sources such as Homeland Security, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Defense, according to CNBC.
Congress passed a spending bill for $1.38 billion, which is $5.7 billion short of what Trump asked for in 2018, according to CNBC. A fight over money for the wall led to a partial government shutdown that lasted a record 35 days.
A group of 16 states filed a lawsuit calling the president’s declaration unconstitutional, according to NPR.
Elementary Education student Tyler Bunting said the decision could be constitutional, but he would have to look at the Constitution more in depth.
“I don’t think it’s constitutional to me because I don’t think that when they wrote the Constitution it wasn’t meant for this purpose right now,” Bunting said.
Electronics Engineering and Technology student Miles Weber said that Trump declaring a national emergency for a southern border wall is unconstitutional.
“I don’t think the Constitution implies spending money in ridiculous ways,” Weber said.
Public Information Officer Cassandra Gotto said that a wall at the southern border does not warrant a national emergency.
“It costs way too much money and there are bigger problems to deal with such as, you know, no clean drinking water in Flint, Michigan,” Gotto said.
Human Services student Terry Plank said that national security warrants a national emergency, but specifically a border wall does not.
“I feel like what’s being brought up is the amount of immigration we are having, and our inability to control the amount flowing in,” said Plank.
Financial Aid Technician Letha Jackson said that allocating money for a border wall takes money away from other areas such as improving education and aiding the homeless.
“I really feel if they really want the wall built I think that the President Trump should take it out of his riches and build the wall,” Jackson said.
Bookstore clerk Barbara Delong thinks that the money should be saved for natural disasters as we are having more extreme weather.
“We will have more disasters,” Delong said. “We need that money to be spent where it’s supposed to be.”
General Business student Matthew Paulsen said that the problem needs to be addressed with a less immense solution.
“We need to do something, but I don’t think a national declaration of emergency is the way to go,” Paulson said.
Computer Engineering student Bradley Ryall said that it is definitely possible a future president might assume too much power in declaring a national emergency.
“We’ve had presidents who have used executive orders to their benefit before when it wasn’t necessarily something that required that much escalation,” Ryall said.
Human Services student Alexander DeReimer said, “It is unconstitutional and it could be construed as grounds for impeachment.”
