Court clears the way for Trump to build his wall

The Supreme Court will allow Donald Trump to use military funds to build a wall along the southern border with Mexico.

Demonstrators in Guatemala City demand the resignation of President Jimmy Morales yesterday. Picture: AP

Donald Trump has won a stunning twin victory to fulfil his election promise to stem migration into the US with a Supreme Court ruling allowing him to use military funds to build a wall along the southern border with Mexico.

The President also won agreement from the Guatemalan government that it would serve as a gatekeeper for asylum-seekers trying to enter the US.

The top US court is allowing Mr Trump to use $US2.5 billion ($3.6bn) in military funds to build another 160km of wall on the Mexican border in an effort to restrict ­illegal immigration.

Mr Trump declared a national emergency in February in order to divert $US6.7bn from military and other sources to build the wall without the approval of congress. Lower courts barred the transfer of some of the funds but Saturday’s Supreme Court decision suspended those rulings pending other appeals.

Mr Trump’s promise to build a border wall was one of the main planks of his 2016 campaign and he celebrated the court’s permission in characteristic style on Twitter: “Wow! Big VICTORY on the Wall. Big WIN for Border ­Security and the Rule of Law.”

In a further breakthrough, Guatemala agreed to measures that will sharply reduce the flow of migrants to the US. Mr Trump had threatened it with sanctions that would have crippled its economy. Under a deal signed by Mr Trump and Guatemalan Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart, migrants from Honduras and El Salvador who pass through Guatemala on their way north to the US will be required to stop and seek asylum there first.

Those who fail to do so will be ineligible for asylum in the US.

Mr Trump called the “safe third country” deal a “landmark” agreement that would be “terrific for them and terrific for the US”.

He added: “They’re doing what we’ve asked them to do,” hailing Jimmy Morales, the former Guatemalan comedian turned President, as a “terrific guy”.

Mr Trump’s Democratic foes, who had blocked the funding for the wall in congress, expressed concerns over whether Guatemala, with its high murder rate and abysmal human rights record, could be considered a “safe haven”, let alone for vulnerable families fleeing gang violence.

House of Representatives foreign affairs committee chairman Eliot Engel called the agreement “cruel and immoral” and added: “Simply put, Guatemala is not a safe country for refugees and ­asylum-seekers.”

Yet acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said Guatemala, a US ally in Central America, has “historically offered both safety and protection, as well as opportunities for employment for people seeking asylum”.

“I think it’s risky to label an entire country as unsafe. There are obviously places in Guatemala and in the US that are dangerous, but that does not mean it doesn’t have an appropriate process,” he said.

The agreement with Guatemala followed one reached with Mexico where, under threat of tariffs, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador agreed to strengthen patrols on his borders. Mr Trump had also threatened Guatemala with tariffs, a travel ban and fees on remittances from its workers in the US after Guatemala’s High Court issued an order blocking the agreement. It was not immediately clear how the country’s President sidestepped the court order.

Nearly 200,000 people travelling in family groups from El Salvador and Honduras have been apprehended at the US border since October, with most passing through Guatemala and Mexico.

Since May, the US administration has been trying to bar asylum claims from migrants who passed through any third country, but last week a Californian judge halted that ban, putting pressure on Mr Trump to reach a deal with Guatemala.

In exchange for Guatemala’s co-operation, America will expand an agricultural guest worker program, allowing Guatemalans to travel legally to the US. Under its terms, the US will pay for transporting asylum-seekers back to Guatemala. Un­accompanied minors are excluded from the deal.

The Supreme Court’s ruling by five votes to four on the wall, splitting the court along its conser­vative-liberal divide, will allow Mr Trump to push ahead with a key campaign promise. “We are pleased the Supreme Court recognised the lower courts should not have halted construction of walls on the southern border,” said a Justice Department spokesman.

“We will continue to vigorously defend the administration’s efforts to protect our nation.”

The Sunday Times