Trump heads to border to push wall plan

McALLEN ( United States):

President Donald Trump headed to the US-Mexico border to push his demand for a wall, a day after he walked out of negotiations with Democrats in a political crisis paralysing the government.

Trump left early from the White House en route for Texas, where he was expected to visit the community of McAllen and meet with local border patrol agents.

“We need border security,” Trump told journalists.

The Texas trip gives Trump yet another high-profile stage to push his wall plan, following a national television address on Tuesday and his drama-filled abandonment of talks with Democratic opponents on Wednesday.

Trump, who revels in telling stories about his negotiating skills as a New York real estate magnate, has not managed to get the Democrats to budge on his demand for the US$5.7bil (RM23bil) for the wall.

On Wednesday, he invited Democratic leaders to the White House and began by asking if they would approve the wall in exchange for him ending the government shutdown.

When the Democrats said no, he walked out.

“A total waste of time,” Trump tweeted.

“I said bye-bye, nothing works!”

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, told journalists Trump “sort of slammed the table” then “got up and walked out”.

“Again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn’t get his way,” Schumer said.

Trump disputed that on Thursday, else saying, “I didn’t pound the table. That is a lie.”

“I don’t have temper tantrums,” he said. “All of that narrative is a lie.”

In Texas, aid workers say people crossing the border do not present the menace that Trump claims.

“The truth is that a great number of percentage of people entering our country, asking to come in to the country, are not criminals: they are families, children, mothers, who really are asking for protection,” said Sister Norma Pimentel, head of the Catholic Humanitarian Respite Centre in McAllen, Texas.

“They’re not coming here to hurt us but rather for us to help them.”

A 23-year-old Honduran who gave his name only as Kevin said he came with his toddler age daughter in search of a better life.

“We left because of the crime, because there is a lot of unemployment.

“The education system is bad and all of us, we parents, want a better future for our children,” he said. — AFP