Budget standoff over US wall looms

– President Donald Trump’s renewed demand for US taxpayer funding of his proposed US-Mexico border wall was threatening again on Tuesday to bring on a budget standoff and a partial government shutdown, leaving Congress just 11 days to act.

With time running short, Trump and Republican leaders of the US House of Representatives huddled at the White House. Border security was expected to be high on the agenda. By December 7, Congress must pass this spending Bill, estimated at $312 billion (R4.3 trillion), to keep some government agencies funded, including the department of homeland security, which polices the border and immigration.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with the incoming foreign minister of Mexico on Sunday to discuss immigration, a top White House official said.

“They will have a full conversation about all the issues in connection with the border,” White House national security advisor John Bolton said.

Washington’s focus on the Mexican border coincides with televised images of US border police lobbing tear gas canisters over a border fence in southern California on Sunday into crowds of asylum seekers, mostly from Central America.

Trump has continued to rail against thousands of migrants in a caravan travelling from violence-ridden Central America to seek asylum in the US. –

Picture: Reuters US ON THE OFFENSIVE: Maria Meza, centre, and her twins run from tear gas at the United States-Mexico border. From Honduras, they’re part of a caravan from Central America trying to reach the US.