United States President Donald Trump has delivered a prime-time televised address to the nation, urging Congress to approve funding for the construction of his proposed U-S-Mexico border barrier.
An impasse between President Trump and Democrats in the House of Representatives over funding for the barrier has led to a partial shutdown of the government, which is approaching its third week. These were his words: “Some have suggested a barrier is immoral. Then, why do wealthy politicians build walls, fences and gates around their homes? They don't build walls because they hate the people on the outside -- but because they love the people on the inside.”
United States President Donald Trump addressed the nation on prime-time television, attempting to gain support for his proposed barrier along the US-Mexico border.
He wants 5,7-billion dollars to build it, but opposition Democrats have refused to approve the spending, claiming Mr Trump's exaggerating immigration issues to appeal to his right-wing base.
In retaliation, Mr Trump has refused to sign off on a broader spending bill, leaving the government partially shut down, and around 800-thousand federal employees, and many more contractors, without income.
Mr Trump says migrant women and children, who he says are used and assaulted by human traffickers, would be among those to benefit from a barrier. He says it would also stop illegal drugs entering the country: "Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally killed by those who illegally entered our country, and thousands more lives will be lost if we don't act right now. This is a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul."
It had been speculated that Mr Trump would declare a national emergency, which would have allowed him to bypass Congress and order the wall's construction to go ahead using military resources. But he stopped short of any declaration.
He did, however, blame the Democrats once again for the government shutdown. "My administration is doing everything in our power to help those impacted by the situation, but the only solution is for Democrats to pass a spending bill that defends our borders and reopens the government."
Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the House Majority Leader, insists her party does want to increase security along the border but thinks there are other, less-extreme ways to do it: "We all agree we need to secure the borders, while honouring our values. We can build the infrastructure and roads and within our ports of entry we can install new technology to scan cars and trucks. We can fund more innovation to detect unauthorised crossings. The women and children at the border are not a security threat, they are a humanitarian challenge."
Us politics expert, Giampiero Gramaglia, commented the situation for SBS Italian.
