A federal appeals court heard arguments Tuesday on a bid to halt military funding for construction of President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico as the pace of construction increasingly raises questions about whether time is running out for the administration's critics.
The administration has begun work on 129 miles (206 kilometers) of Pentagon-funded projects in California, Arizona and New Mexico since the Supreme Court ruled in July that construction can proceed during a legal challenge.
The Pentagon has diverted $6.1 billion to pay for construction since Trump declared a national emergency on the border in February. Trump says he plans to have about 500 miles (800 kilometers) built by the end of 2020. As of Nov. 1, about 78 miles (125 kilometers) were completed to replace barriers.
FILE - In this Sept. 10, 2019, file photo, government contractors erect a section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River, in Yuma, Ariz. A federal appeals court hears arguments against diverting Pentagon money for border wall construction as time runs out. It says the Trump administration has moved quickly to spend the money after the Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal to prevent work from starting in July. (AP PhotoMatt York,File)
Dror Ladin, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, urged a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to rule as quickly as possible because the administration was moving quickly in places including Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona.
"There (are) huge amounts of water being drawn because they're putting the wall with a great deal of cement, and there's bulldozers and really heart-wrenching pictures from the border that are being sent to me every day," Ladin said.
Ladin said in an interview that sections of wall in dispute should be torn down if the ACLU prevails.
FILE - In this Sept. 10, 2019, file photo government contractors erect a section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River, in Yuma, Ariz. A federal appeals court hears arguments against diverting Pentagon money for border wall construction as time runs out. It says the Trump administration has moved quickly to spend the money after the Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal to prevent work from starting in July. cut to pay for President Donald Trump's wall. (AP PhotoMatt York, File)
The judges — two appointed by President Bill Clinton and one by Trump — gave no clues to how they were leaning. They did not say when they will issue a written decision.
The ACLU, which is representing the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, contends that Trump flagrantly ignored the wishes of Congress. Attorneys for the Justice Department said Trump properly exercised his authority to transfer money between departments.
Attorneys for the state of California and the U.S. House of Representatives appeared before the judges to argue in favor of the ACLU's position.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.
Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.
In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.
“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
