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Trump blasted for ‘stoking fear’ after claiming border security crisis

"This is a choice between right and wrong. Justice and injustice."

"This is a choice between right and wrong. Justice and injustice." Photo: Getty

US President Donald Trump has been accused of stoking fear and manufacturing a crisis in his first national address where he urged Congress to give him $US5.7 billion ($8 billion) to help build a wall on the US border with Mexico.

Facing Democratic opposition in Congress to a wall, Mr Trump said in a prime-time televised speech that there was a growing security crisis at the US-Mexico border, but he stopped short of declaring a national emergency to pay for the wall with military funds.

Using blunt and dramatic language to try to win public support, Mr Trump said illegal immigrants and drugs flowing across the southern border posed a serious threat to the safety of US residents.

“How much more American blood will be shed before Congress does its job?” Mr Trump said after recounting gruesome details of murders he said were committed by illegal immigrants.

But after days of hinting he might use presidential powers to declare an emergency as a first step toward directing money for the wall without congressional approval, the President said he would continue seeking a solution to the impasse with Congress.

Mr Trump is scheduled to visit the southwest border on Thursday (US time) and it was not clear whether he still might choose to make the national emergency declaration.

The  remarks came 18 days into a partial government shutdown sparked by his demand for the wall, which he has said is needed to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs.

Democrats and other opponents of a border wall had threatened to take legal action if Mr Trump issued the order.

They say he is using false claims and manufacturing a crisis to carry out his 2016 presidential campaign promise for a wall that he said at the time would be paid for by Mexico. The Mexican government has refused to provide such funds.

Democrats also argue that a mix of fencing, which already has been constructed in many parts of the border, and higher-tech tools would be cheaper and more effective in securing the border.

In a televised response, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Mr Trump of governing by “temper tantrum”.

Ms Pelosi also highlighted Mr Trump’s “obsession with forcing American taxpayers to waste billions of dollars on an expensive and ineffective wall – a wall he always promised Mexico would pay for!”

“Most presidents have used Oval Office addresses for noble purposes, this president just used the backdrop of the Oval Office, to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear, and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration,” Senator Schumer said.

“The symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty, not a 30-foot wall.

“So our suggestion is a simple one, Mr President: reopen the government, we can work to resolve differences over border security.

“End this shutdown now.”

Mr Pelosi also noted that Mr Trump had rejected bipartisan legislation to reopen the government agencies shuttered as a result of the fight over the wall.

Hoping to show some flexibility during his nearly 10-minute speech from the White House Oval Office, Mr Trump said of the border barrier he wants built: “At the request of the Democrats it will be a steel barrier and not a concrete wall.”

But Democrats have opposed not just the construction materials to be used, but the extent of a project that could end up costing more than $US24 billion ($33.5 billion) over the long run.

Watch the address here

Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s arch enemy, porn star Stormy Daniels – who has been a litigant against the President over a claimed affair – tried to steal some of the President’s thunder by tweeting that she and the nation had other things to do at the time of the address.

 

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-with AAP

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