US Supreme Court clears way for Trump to proceed on border wall

The US Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for the Trump administration to use $2.5 billion from the Department of Defense  for a section of wall on the southern border.

The wall, Dividing the US and Mexico was Trump government’s major campaign promise.

The government argues, the wall is necessary to protect national security.

The court ruled 5-4 to block a ruling by a federal judge in California that barred the president from spending the money on the wall.

In a brief order, the court said that it was ruling in favor of the Trump administration before the litigation has played out because the government had made a "sufficient showing" that the challengers did not have the legal right to bring the case.

The wall is fiercely opposed by the Democrats.

But Democrats say they are in favour of border security but the wall would be expensive and ineffective. They argue that Trump has manufactured the border emergency and that the wall has become a symbol of Trump's anti-immigration platform.

The President celebrated the decision in a tweet Friday evening.

"The United States Supreme Court overturns lower court injunction, allows Southern Border Wall to proceed," the President tweeted. "Big WIN for Border Security and the Rule of Law!"

The order comes after Trump ended a 35-day government shutdown in February when Congress gave him $1.4 billion in wall funding, far less than he had sought. He subsequently declared a national emergency to get money from other government accounts to construct sections of the wall.

According to US authorities, 104,344 people were arrested along the southwest border in June - a 28% drop from the previous month.

The Trump administration claims the decrease is due to new policies with Mexico to curb migration, including increased security on the Mexican side of the border, and the expansion of a scheme that makes asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their cases are being processed.