See President Trump’s VETO message to Congressional Democrats

Friday afternoon, President Donald J. Trump issued the first veto of his Presidency, striking down a Democrat-inspired measure to reject the declaration of a national emergency at our southern border.  

"As President, the protection of the nation is my highest duty," President Trump said from the Oval Office before signing. "Yesterday, Congress passed a dangerous resolution that, if signed into law, would put countless Americans in danger—very grave danger."

Since 1976, U.S. presidents have declared a total of 59 national emergencies, most of them involving the protection of foreign citizens in far-off countries. Yet of all these actions, the only emergency Congress has ever pushed to revoke is one that actually protects our own homeland and our own citizens.

In his official veto message to Congress, the President laid out how the current situation at our border is even more precarious than in years past:
 

	The situation at the southern border is rapidly deteriorating because of who is arriving and how they are arriving. For many years, the majority of individuals who arrived illegally were single adults from Mexico. Under our existing laws, we could detain and quickly remove most of these aliens. More recently, however, illegal migrants have organized into caravans that include large numbers of families and unaccompanied children from Central American countries. . .  Under current laws, court decisions, and resource constraints, the Government cannot detain families or undocumented alien children from Central American countries in significant numbers or quickly deport them.

Securing our border is vital to ensuring the safety and security of the American people. Tens of thousands of innocent American lives are being lost every year as drugs pour across our border—with more than 70,000 overdose deaths in 2017 alone. Criminal aliens and gang members also exploit our weak borders to gain entry into our country.

"Congress's vote to deny the crisis on the southern border is a vote against reality," President Trump said Friday. Unfortunately, for many in Washington, that's just business as usual.

Read President Trump's official VETO message to Congress.