Colorado is expected to join other states, including California, in a lawsuit against President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, the state's attorney general’s office said.
Lawrence Pacheco, the director of communications at the Colorado Attorney General's Office, confirmed to 9NEWS on Sunday the Centennial State would be a part of the multistate lawsuit.
On Monday, Attorney General Phil Weiser and Governor Jared Polis issued a joint statement saying Colorado would join at least 12 other states in the lawsuit.
"After reviewing the specifics of this action over the weekend, we concluded that Colorado could lose tens of millions in military construction dollars that would be diverted to build the wall. Our military bases play a critical role in our nation’s readiness and are economic drivers in several communities," the statement says.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, told reporters last week that the state is also likely to sue the president over his emergency declaration.
Trump signed the declaration to justify diverting billions of federal dollars from military construction and other purposes after Congress approved only a fraction of the money he had demanded. The standoff over border funding had led to the longest government shutdown in history. To avoid another shutdown, Trump reluctantly signed a funding bill Friday that included just $1.4 billion of the $5.7 billion he had demanded for the wall.
Hours after Trump declared a national emergency on Friday, two lawsuits were filed seeking to block it.
Advocacy group Public Citizen confirmed their lawsuit in a tweet saying, “BREAKING: We just sued Trump over his fake national emergency.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics also confirmed that they're suing the Justice Department after "it failed to to produce documents concerning the legality of President Trump invoking emergency powers to build a border wall."