US is building walls

Politicians reach a compromise on border before shutdown

A GOVERNMENT shutdown has been averted and funding for new barriers along the US-Mexico border is set to go ahead after US congressional negotiators announced an agreement.

The breakthrough overcame a late-stage hang-up over immigration enforcement issues but it also meant Republicans desperate to avoid another shutdown had to agree to far less money for President Donald Trump’s border wall than the White House’s $5.7 billion wishlist.

A senior congressional aide said they had settled for a figure of about $1.4 billion.

“We reached an agreement in principle,” said Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Richard Shelby, a Republican, appearing with a bipartisan group of House and Senate politicians who concurred.

“Our staffs are just working out the details,” said House Appropriations Committee chairwoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat.

The pact came in time to alleviate any threat of a second partial government shutdown this weekend. Mr Shelby had earlier pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic de- mands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue.

Asked if Mr Trump would back the deal, Mr Shelby said: “We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude they’ve given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so.”

Mr Trump has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall.

Democrats carried more leverage into the talks after besting Mr Trump on the 35day shutdown but showed flexibility in hopes of winning his signature. After yielding on border barriers, Democrats focused on reducing funding for detention beds to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.