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President Donald Trump delivers a televised address to the nation from his desk in the Oval Office about immigration and the southern U.S. border on the 18th day of a partial government shutdown at the White House in Washington, Jan. 8, 2019.
President Donald Trump delivers a televised address to the nation from his desk in the Oval Office about immigration and the southern U.S. border on the 18th day of a partial government shutdown at the White House in Washington, Jan. 8, 2019.

Trump Makes Case for Southern Border Wall, Democrats Respond

In his first prime-time address from the Oval Office, U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the nation Tuesday on why the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border must be funded. After Trump's address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer provided the Democratic response.

Trump refers to wealthy politicians who lives behind walls - not because they don't love the people outside the wall but because they love the people inside the wall.

The president claims the partial government can be solved in a 45-minute meeting, and he is inviting leaders to a meeting on Wednesday.

Trump runs through a list of things his administration is asking for as part of an overall approach to border security, including more immigration judges, more beds for children, the closing of border security loopholes, and saying he is asking now for the use of steel barriers rather than concrete.

By any available measure, there is no new crisis at the border.

Apprehensions of people trying to cross the southern border peaked most recently at 1.6 million in 2000 and have been in decline since, partly because of technology upgrades, tougher penalties post-9/11, a decline in migration rates from Mexico and a sharp rise in the number of Border Patrol officers.

Customs and Border Protection reported 303,916 apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border for fiscal 2017, the lowest in more than 45 years. In fiscal 2018, apprehensions increased 396,579, but that was less than half the total of 2007.

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