on february 15, 2019, president trump spoke to the media in the white house rose garden. after signing the spending bill to keep the government open, trump declared a national emergency over the border crisis, hoping to get access to $8 billion to use for border security. during his announcement, trump stated, "i could do the wall over a longer period of time. i didn’t need to do this, but i’d rather do it much faster.” critics asserted this statement would undercut the rationale for his emergency declaration in court challenges.