Trump said there is a growing security crisis at the southern border and all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal immigration.
US President Donald Trump said in a televised address on Tuesday that a wall along the US border with Mexico is a critical part of border security and was needed to break a cycle of illegal immigration from Latin America that hurts mainly women and children.
Trump's remarks came 18 days into a partial government shutdown precipitated by his demand for wall construction, which he has said is needed to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs. He, however, stopped short of declaring a national emergency, as many feared, that could have led to unilaterally funding the project.
He urged Congress to give him $5.7 billion this year to help build a wall on the border with Mexico. But after days of hinting that he might use his presidential powers to declare an emergency as a first step toward directing money for the wall without congressional approval, Trump appeared to be willing instead to continue seeking a solution to the impasse with Congress.
Trump's prime-time address was his latest attempt to persuade Congress to fund construction of a huge barrier along the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border. Trump is scheduled to visit the southwest border on Thursday and it was not clear whether he still might choose to make the national emergency declaration.
Facing Democratic opposition in Congress to a wall, Trump said there is a growing security crisis at the US-Mexico border and all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal immigration. He also blamed Democrats for not funding the border wall amid shutdown. Democrats in control of the US House of Representatives oppose the plan and said they would not fund it.
He said he hoped they could rise above the partisan politics and work for border security.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer delivered a televised response after Trump's address.
Trump has in recent days backed away from demanding a concrete wall to stop illegal immigration, shifting instead to touting steel fences in the hope that will draw more support. But negotiations between the two sides have failed.
Trump has long maintained that a border wall is needed to stem the flow of illegal immigration and drugs, and in recent weeks has made the issue a priority.
Democrats, who now control the House after winning congressional elections in November, call it an expensive, inefficient and immoral way of trying to resolve immigration issues.
The dispute over wall funding - with Trump demanding $5.7 billion just for this year to help build it - led to a stalemate in Congress over funding for parts of the government.
About a quarter of US agencies have been shut down since Dec. 22 and hundreds of thousands of government workers are likely to miss paychecks this week. The shutdown has left some 800,000 government workers furloughed or working without pay, and is also affecting national parks, airline security screening, housing and the release of economic data.
While Trump paints a picture of an "unprecedented crisis" of illegal immigration at the US-Mexican border, illegal crossings there have dropped dramatically in recent years.
There were nearly 400,000 apprehensions on the border in the 2018 fiscal year, far lower than in the early 2000s when arrests regularly topped 1 million annually.
Trump's promise of a wall was a signature issue in his 2016 election campaign. He said Mexico would pay for the wall, although Mexico was always clear it would not, and he has now turned to Congress for the money.
(With Reuters inputs)
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