Protesters on a downtown Tucson corner denounce President Donald Trump's emergency declaration over border security, Feb. 18, 2019.
About 100 people spent part of their President's Day in downtown Tucson protesting President Donald Trump and his national emergency declaration.
The group Justice Alliance organized a noontime demonstration in front of the Evo A. DeConcini U.S. Courthouse. Participants were each given a sign saying "the real emergency is...", along with a marker to fill in the rest.Many, like protest organizer Steve Diamond, simply wrote "Trump" in big letters.
"He has already been defeated in Congress more than once in trying to obtain the funding for his so-called wall, and now he's trying to do an end-run around the Congress in the manner of a child picking up his toys and leaving the playground," Diamond said.
The president pointed to drug and human trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border as his reason for an emergency declaration to fund building his promised border wall. Critics say he shouldn't use emergency powers to pay for a pet project when Congress has already declined to fund it.
Monday's protest was coordinated with dozens of others around the country.
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