US President Donald Trump is to invoke rare national emergency powers to secure funding for his planned border wall with Mexico, the White House said.
The controversial move would enable Mr Trump to bypass Congress which has refused to approve the money needed.
Senior Democrats have accused the president of a “gross abuse of power” and a “lawless act”.
Several Republicans have also voiced concern.
Building a border wall was a key campaign pledge of Mr Trump’s campaign.
Declaring a national emergency would free Mr Trump from many of the legal constraints on executive power and give him access to billions of dollars for his project.
The president agreed on Thursday to sign a spending bill that does not include finance for the wall. The bill ended two months of deadlock which led to a 35-day government shutdown the longest in US history.
The spending bill must be signed on Friday to avert another shutdown.
Citing unnamed White House officials, US media outlets reported that the president would sign the emergencies act at the same time.
