Passionately pushing for his case for a border wall along the US-Mexico border, US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that without a strong border, America is defenceless, vulnerable and unprotected.
Trump's remarks came as the current partial government shutdown over the issue entered into its 25th day. The shutdown has rendered more than 800,000 federal employees without work, crippling the functioning of several key wings of the government including Security and State department.
The longest-ever government shutdown is a result of the bitter political divided over birder security issue as the Democrats who now enjoy majority in the House have refused to approve a legislation approving USD 5.7 billion in federal funding to construct a wall across the US-Mexico border.
Trump insists that building a wall is the only solution to protect the nation from a large flow of illegal immigrants and drug smuggling.
"Without a strong border, America is defenceless, vulnerable, and unprotected," Trump said in his address at the Pentagon wherein he said the situation in the border is matter of critical national security.
"I want to thank the military for helping us out during the big caravan period, but now you have more caravans forming and they're on their way up. Thousands and thousands of people. We don't know where they're from, who they are, nothing," he said.
Except for a border wall nothing else is going to work, he said.
"We need strong borders. We need strong barriers and walls. Nothing else is going to work. Everyone knows it. Everybody saying it now, it's just a question of time," he said.
While many Democrats in the House and Senate would like to make a deal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not let them negotiate, he alleged.
"The party has been hijacked by the open borders fringe within the party," he charged.
"The radical left becoming the radical Democrats. Hopefully, Democrat lawmakers will step forward to do what is right for our country, and what's right for our country's border security at the strongest level. Stop human hijacking. Stop drugs. Stop gangs. Stop criminals. That's what we're going to do," Trump asserted.
