Trump makes humanitarian case for wall, calling border situation ‘a crisis of the soul’ - washingtonpost

In an Oval Office address, the president said the federal government “remains shut down for one reason and one reason only: because Democrats will not fund border security.” Democrats accused him of governing by “temper tantrum” in their televised rebuttal.

President Trump delivered a forceful and fact-challenged televised plea to the nation Tuesday night for his long-promised border wall, declaring “a growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border and blaming congressional Democrats for the partial government shutdown that he helped instigate three weeks ago.

Trump painted a harrowing picture of danger and death along the U.S.-Mexico border, describing undocumented immigrants as murderers, rapists and drug smugglers and arguing that a steel barrier — for which he is demanding that Congress appropriate $5.7 billion — is the only solution.

“This is a humanitarian crisis — a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul,” Trump said in his nine-minute speech from the Oval Office. “Democrats in Congress have refused to acknowledge the crisis, and they have refused to provide our brave border agents with the tools they desperately need to protect our families and our nation.”

Democratic leaders, who have steadfastly resisted Trump’s demand for wall funding in part because they consider such a barrier to be immoral and unnecessary, accused Trump of fearmongering in his Tuesday night address. They called on him to immediately end the government shutdown, which they said was disrupting the pay of 800,000 federal workers and depriving millions of American citizens of critical services. - Read More

Trump makes humanitarian case for wall, calling border situation ‘a crisis of the soul’