Battling with one branch of government and opening a new confrontation with another, President Donald Trump announced Friday he was declaring a national emergency to fulfill his pledge to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The move drew varying opinions from Butler County political leaders and residents throughout the day.

Kathy Gianneschi of Butler said she lived in Texas about 20 years ago, and the border security issue felt real.

“I had a lot of Hispanic friends who wouldn’t let me cross the border because it’s too dangerous,” Gianneschi said. “You saw a lot of murders along the border. I don’t know how scary it is now.”

While Gianneschi agreed that the wall would help, she doesn’t believe it would be 100 percent effective.

“You can dig under a wall. You can fly a plane over a wall,” Gianneschi said. “If someone really wants in, they can get in.”

Bypassing Congress, which approved far less money for his proposed wall than he had sought, Trump said he would use executive action to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counter-drug efforts for the wall, aides said.

Trump’s move followed a rare show of bipartisanship when lawmakers voted Thursday to fund large swaths of the government and avoid a repeat of this winter’s debilitating five-week government shutdown.

The money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the more than 200 miles he wanted this year.

To bridge the gap, Trump announced that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers — combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including the national emergency. The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and counterdrug efforts, but aides could not immediately specify which military projects would be affected.

Catherine Lalonde, chairwoman of the Butler County Democratic Committee, called Friday’s declaration an overreach of power to address an issue that isn’t an emergency.

She pointed out that immigration has been an ongoing problem for at least 30 years. She argued that declaring an emergency to obtain more money to build the wall after Congress decided to allocate less money for construction is not how the government’s checks and balances system works.

Lalonde called the declaration Trump’s effort “to appease his base and commentators taking him to task for not building a wall, which was supposed to be paid for by Mexico.”

From Capitol Hill to Western Pennsylvania, the move is drawing both criticism and support. It is also expected to face rounds of legal challenges.

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, issued a statement calling the declaration a last resort to keep Trump’s campaign promise to secure the borders.

“I share the president’s primary priority and responsibility, that is, the safety and security of the American people,” Kelly said in his statement. “He persistently sought to work with Congress on a satisfactory deal to secure our nation’s borders, and Democrats consistently refused to negotiate in good faith. They focused on politics over sound policy, cynically trying to prevent the president from keeping his promise to the American people.”

Fellow Republican, U.S. Sen, Pat Toomey, expressed concern about the president’s declaration.

“I made no secret of the fact that I hoped the president would choose to avoid unilateral action and work with Congress on a legislative solution to secure the border,” Toomey said in a statement Friday. “My staff and I are reviewing the president’s declaration and its implications very closely.”

Local residents, on the other hand, question the overall effectiveness of a wall.

James Coyne of Butler said he agrees that drugs need to be kept from crossing the border, but thinks the wall will be ineffective.

“I think it’s a waste of time to build,” Coyne said. “I don’t think it’s an emergency.”

Josue Crespo of Butler argued the border already has adequate protection, and hopes people will fight the declaration. He said he also doesn’t trust the data Trump claims to base his argument upon.

“They’re going to fight it anyway in court. I think he’s making it up,” Crespo said.

Despite widespread opposition in Congress to proclaiming an emergency, including by some Republicans, Trump was responding to pressure to act unilaterally to soothe his conservative base and avoid appearing like he’s lost his wall battle.

Word that Trump would declare the emergency prompted condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.

In a singsongy tone of voice, Trump described Friday how the decision will be challenged and work its way through the courts, including up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

He said, “Sadly, we’ll be sued and sadly it will go through a process and happily we’ll win, I think.”

Sinceré Harris, executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, issued a statement urging Congress to do its constitutional duty to check the president’s abuse of power and refocus priorities to better the lives of their constituents.

“This so-called emergency declaration is just another example of the president’s misplaced priorities and selfish values,” Harris wrote. “This wall is nothing but a monument to the president’s hate and racism, and it will forever stand as a reminder of the shamefulness of this administration.”

Democratic state attorneys general said they’d consider legal action to block Trump. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told the president on Twitter “we’ll see you in court” if he made the declaration.

Even if his emergency declaration withstands challenge, Trump is still billions of dollars short of his overall funding needed to build the wall as he promised in 2016. After two years of effort, Trump has not added any new border mileage; all of the construction so far has gone to replacing and repairing existing structures. Ground is expected to be broken in South Texas soon on the first new mileage.

A White House official said Trump would not try to redirect federal disaster aid to the wall, a proposal they had considered but rejected over fears of a political blowback.

Eagle staff writers Nathan Bottiger and Steve Ferris contributed to this report.