Once, President Donald Trump attacked a judge because of his Mexican heritage. However, in recent news, the same Mexican American Judge has voted in favor of the administration, in a lawsuit attempting to block the wall Trump was proposing to build on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The parents of District Judge Gonzalo Curiel emigrated from Mexico voted against a legal challenge to the wall, on Tuesday. This is to protect it from environment waivers granted by the Department of Homeland Security.
This ruling will allow the administration to ‘continue waiving the regulations’ that will see Trump’s proposed plan come to reality – to build barriers on the border. During the 2016 presidential race, President Trump targeted Curiel, stating that there will be biasness due to heritage against a lawsuit over Trump.
However, in his ruling, Curiel wrote that “he did not have serious constitutional doubts” regarding the use of waivers by the administrators.
He said in a statement, “In its review of this case, the court cannot and does not consider whether underlying decisions to construct the border barriers are politically wise or prudent.”
The State of California filed this lawsuit last year, which argued that the National Environmental Policy Act and other immigration and environmental rules were improperly waived by the department, only to expedite the process of wall construction.
On Tuesday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said that the state is “unwavering in our belief that the Trump Administration is ignoring laws it doesn’t like in order to resuscitate a campaign talking point of building a wall on our southern border.”
“We will evaluate all of our options and are prepared to do what is necessary to protect our people, our values, and our economy from federal overreach,” he added. “A medieval wall along the U.S.-Mexico border simply does not belong in the 21st century.”
The senior lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity Brian Segee believes that the waivers were ‘unconstitutional.’ He said, “The Trump administration has completely overreached its authority in its rush to build this destructive, senseless wall. They’re giving unprecedented, sweeping power to an unelected agency chief to ignore dozens of laws and crash through hundreds of miles of spectacular borderlands.”
A spokesman for Department of Justice also praised the ruling given by the Mexican American judge. He stated that the decision will allow to keep our nation’s interest first.
Devin O’Malley said in a statement, “Border security is paramount to stemming the flow of illegal immigration that contributes to rising violent crime and to the drug crisis, and undermines national security. Congress gave authority to the Department of Homeland Security to construct a border wall without delay to prevent illegal entry into the United States, and we are pleased DHS can continue this important work vital to our nation’s interests.”
