[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 20, 2019)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 4949-4950]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-03011]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 34 / Wednesday, February 20, 2019 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 4949]]

                Proclamation 9844 of February 15, 2019

                
Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the 
                Southern Border of the United States

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The current situation at the southern border presents a 
                border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens 
                core national security interests and constitutes a 
                national emergency. The southern border is a major 
                entry point for criminals, gang members, and illicit 
                narcotics. The problem of large-scale unlawful 
                migration through the southern border is long-standing, 
                and despite the executive branch's exercise of existing 
                statutory authorities, the situation has worsened in 
                certain respects in recent years. In particular, recent 
                years have seen sharp increases in the number of family 
                units entering and seeking entry to the United States 
                and an inability to provide detention space for many of 
                these aliens while their removal proceedings are 
                pending. If not detained, such aliens are often 
                released into the country and are often difficult to 
                remove from the United States because they fail to 
                appear for hearings, do not comply with orders of 
                removal, or are otherwise difficult to locate. In 
                response to the directive in my April 4, 2018, 
                memorandum and subsequent requests for support by the 
                Secretary of Homeland Security, the Department of 
                Defense has provided support and resources to the 
                Department of Homeland Security at the southern border. 
                Because of the gravity of the current emergency 
                situation, it is necessary for the Armed Forces to 
                provide additional support to address the crisis.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, by the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States of America, including sections 201 and 
                301 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et 
                seq.), hereby declare that a national emergency exists 
                at the southern border of the United States, and that 
                section 12302 of title 10, United States Code, is 
                invoked and made available, according to its terms, to 
                the Secretaries of the military departments concerned, 
                subject to the direction of the Secretary of Defense in 
                the case of the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air 
                Force. To provide additional authority to the 
                Department of Defense to support the Federal 
                Government's response to the emergency at the southern 
                border, I hereby declare that this emergency requires 
                use of the Armed Forces and, in accordance with section 
                301 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1631), 
                that the construction authority provided in section 
                2808 of title 10, United States Code, is invoked and 
                made available, according to its terms, to the 
                Secretary of Defense and, at the discretion of the 
                Secretary of Defense, to the Secretaries of the 
                military departments. I hereby direct as follows:

                Section 1. The Secretary of Defense, or the Secretary 
                of each relevant military department, as appropriate 
                and consistent with applicable law, shall order as many 
                units or members of the Ready Reserve to active duty as 
                the Secretary concerned, in the Secretary's discretion, 
                determines to be appropriate to assist and support the 
                activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security at the 
                southern border.

                Sec. 2. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the 
                Interior, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and, 
                subject to the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, 
                the Secretaries of the military departments, shall take 
                all appropriate

[[Page 4950]]

                actions, consistent with applicable law, to use or 
                support the use of the authorities herein invoked, 
                including, if necessary, the transfer and acceptance of 
                jurisdiction over border lands.

                Sec. 3. This proclamation is not intended to, and does 
                not, create any right or benefit, substantive or 
                procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any 
                party against the United States, its departments, 
                agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or 
                agents, or any other person.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand nineteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                third.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2019-03011
Filed 2-19-19; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F9-P