Executive Power Showdown: Congress and White House Quarrel over Immigration Spending - MPI

Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Randy Capps, Migration Policy Institute, Feb. 28, 2019

"Despite a breakthrough bipartisan agreement to fund the federal government and avert another shutdown, a faceoff between the Trump administration and Congress on border spending is now in the hands of the courts. The outcome of this legal battle, which could reset the boundaries between executive and congressional control over spending, will have consequences that go far beyond the realm of immigration. Unhappy with the $1.375 billion allocated for the wall in the agreement he signed, President Trump declared a national emergency that—unless enjoined by the courts—could potentially allocate $6.1 billion more for border barriers.

While the wall funding took center stage in the spending negotiations, it was not the only point of contention for negotiators. In the immigration realm, perhaps no area has had more back and forth over whose views prevail in spending decisions than immigration detention. Indeed, funding for immigration detention has been a matter of contention between Congress and the executive branch for a number of years, as this article explores. ... [More...]"