Trump demands funding to end border 'crisis' in US TV address

US President Donald Trump has demanded funding for his long-promised US-Mexico border wall to halt "a growing humanitarian and security crisis".

In his first TV address to the nation from the Oval Office, Mr Trump did not declare a national emergency to bypass Congress to build the barrier aimed at stopping illegal migrants.

Democratic leaders accused him of holding the American people hostage.

The disagreement has caused an 18-day partial government shutdown.

The Republican president wants $5.7bn (£4.5bn) to build a steel barrier, which would deliver on his signature campaign pledge.

But Democrats - who recently took control of the House of Representatives - are adamantly opposed to giving him the funds.

The ongoing closure of a quarter of federal agencies is the second-longest in history, leaving hundreds of thousands of government workers unpaid.

In an eight-minute address on Tuesday night carried live by all the major US television networks, Mr Trump said the federal government remained shut because of the Democrats.

He said of the situation at the border: "This is a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul."

Mr Trump said an as-yet-unratified revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement would pay for the wall, a claim previously disputed by economists.

The president also said that 90% of heroin sold in the US came from Mexico, though US government figures make clear all but a small percentage is smuggled through legal points of entry.

Mr Trump correctly pointed out that Democrats have in the past supported a physical barrier.

In 2006, senators Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden voted in favour of 700 miles (1,120km) of fencing on the nearly 2,000-mile border under the Secure Fence Act.

Mr Trump cited cases of American citizens "savagely murdered in cold blood" by undocumented immigrants.

"How much more American blood will be shed before Congress does its job?" he asked.

On Wednesday, he will seek to stiffen the resolve of fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill before hosting congressional leaders for talks at the White House.

Mr Trump heads to the south-western border on Thursday.

Courtesy : BBC News