by Evie Fordham
President Donald Trump continued to hammer on the need for a southern border wall Saturday after announcing Friday that he will support a deal to temporarily reopen the government without any funding for the wall.
“We have turned away, at great expense, two major Caravans, but a big one has now formed and is coming,” Trump wrote on Twitter Saturday. “At least 8000 people! If we had a powerful Wall, they wouldn’t even try to make the long and dangerous journey. Build the Wall and Crime will Fall!”
The New York Times reported Friday on the third migrant caravan that Trump referenced:
The current migrant caravan left San Pedro Sula in Honduras on Jan. 14 and, in the following days, began arriving at the Guatemala-Mexico border. Mexican officials encouraged the migrants to apply for the humanitarian visa, and since then over 12,000 people, mostly Hondurans, have done so in this border town in southern Mexico.
Trump used his new slogan “Build the wall and crime will fall” in the tweet.
Trump’s message about the proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall comes a day after he and Congress ended the record-breaking 35-day partial government shutdown. Republicans and Democrats now have until Feb. 15 to come to an agreement on border security funding before another partial shutdown is triggered.
“21 days goes very quickly. Negotiations with Democrats will start immediately. Will not be easy to make a deal, both parties very dug in. The case for National Security has been greatly enhanced by what has been happening at the Border [and] through dialogue. We will build the Wall!” Trump also wrote on Twitter Saturday morning.
Many conservative commentators expressed their displeasure with Trump after his Friday announcement that he would agree to reopen the government without obtaining funding for a border wall first.
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Evie Fordham is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Evie on Twitter.
