LOS ANGELES, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra Wednesday announced a lawsuit against Trump administration's plan to build a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico.
Becerra unfolded the suit in San Diego, a southern Californian city located on the border between the two countries. The lawsuit aims to stop design, planning and construction on the wall, and is particularly focused on halting the construction of wall prototypes in San Diego and the replacement of barriers there and in Calexico, California.
According to the 53-page indictment acquired by Xinhua, the defendants of the cases included United States of America, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), former DHS Secretary John Kelly, Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke, the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan.
They are charged of violating the U.S. Constitution, failing to comply with federal and state environmental laws, and relying on a federal statute that does not authorize the proposed projects.
In the lawsuit filed in the District Court for the Southern District of California, Becerra recalled the history of construction since from Jone Kelly's move to expedite the projects before 2009 to DHS's announcement that it intended to carry out a border wall project in Imperial County last week.
He claimed both DHS's former Secretary Kelly and Acting Secretary Duke proposed unlawfully expediting the construction of this project, arguing that the Secretary's authority to waive laws under Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) expired in 2008, which allows the DHS to install additional physical barriers and roads in certain areas to deter illegal crossings.
Since DHS did not identify the San Diego or Imperial project areas as "priority areas" before this deadline, the indictment said, so improper application of Section 102 violates several provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Enditem
