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AFP
Mr Trump spoke behind a display of weapons, drugs and cash said to have been seized by the McAllen border patrol
US President Donald Trump has threatened again to declare a national emergency to fund a border wall without Congress’s approval.
“I have the absolute right to declare a national emergency,” he told reporters as he headed to an event at the border.
He also said Mexico would “indirectly” pay for the wall – contradicting an earlier campaign memo.
The government has been in partial shutdown for 20 days, leaving about 800,000 federal employees without pay.
President Trump refuses to sign legislation to fund and reopen the government if it does not include $5.7bn (£4.5bn) for a physical barrier along the US-Mexico border.
- How much of Trump’s wall has been built?
- What border politicians think of Trump’s wall
But budget talks have come to a standstill as Democrats – who control the House of Representatives – refuse to give him the money.
Republican leaders insist the party stands behind the president, although some Republican lawmakers have spoken out in favour of ending the shutdown.
How could Trump pay for the wall without Congress?
On Thursday, Mr Trump visited a border patrol station in McAllen, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
He said that if Congress did not approve funding for the wall, he would “probably… I would almost say definitely” declare a national emergency to bypass lawmakers.
Analysts say that while presidents can direct military construction projects during war or national emergencies, the move would almost certainly face a legal challenge, and be accused of violating constitutional procedures.
The money would also have to come from funds allocated by Congress for other purposes – which some Republicans would also oppose.
Mr Trump has been briefed on one plan that would involve diverting funding allocated to reconstruction projects in disaster areas, including Puerto Rico, to pay for the wall, NBC reports, citing three unnamed US officials.
How did Trump make his case for the wall?
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Mr Trump spoke at McAllen station, behind a display of weapons and cash said to have been seized by the border patrol. He was joined by border patrol agents, and relatives of people killed by illegal immigrants.
“If we don’t have a barrier… you’re not going to be able to solve this problem,” he said, adding that people faced “hard work”, “gruelling problems” and “a lot of death” without it.
Mr Trump added: “They say a wall is medieval… There are some things that work.”
Has Trump changed his pledge on funding the wall?
Mr Trump made the border wall a key campaign promise – and pledged to make Mexico pay for it.
However, speaking on Thursday, Mr Trump claimed he never meant that Mexico would make a one-time payment.
“When I said Mexico would pay for the wall in front of thousands and thousands of people… obviously I never meant Mexico would write a cheque,” he said.
However, this is contradicted by an archived campaign memo from 2016, where Mr Trump outlined how he planned to “compel Mexico to make a one-time payment” of $5-10bn (£4bn-£8bn) for the wall.
- Where do we go from here?
- Is there a crisis on the US-Mexico border?
Mr Trump said on Thursday that, instead of a direct payment, Mexico would be “paying for the wall indirectly, many, many times over”, under the new US Mexico Canada Agreement.
Economists have disputed this and critics say that any savings incurred due to the deal would go directly to private businesses rather than flow into US Treasury.
The deal, which has yet to be ratified by Congress, would replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).
How is the shutdown progressing?
Partial shutdowns occur when Congress cannot agree a budget by a certain deadline or the president refuses to sign it.
This shutdown, which began on 22 December, has closed 25% of the government. Of the 800,000 federal employees affected, about 350,000 are furloughed – a kind of temporary lay off – and the rest are working without pay.
Shutdown negotiations failed on Wednesday when Mr Trump walked out of a meeting with Democratic leaders.
The president called the meeting “a total waste of time” after top Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer refused to budge on agreeing to legislation that includes funding for a wall.
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The first pay day since the shutdown falls on Friday and will pass without workers getting salaries.
Hundreds of federal workers, contractors and supporters rallied outside the White House on Thursday in protest against the shutdown.
After past shutdowns, workers have generally been refunded with back pay, although that does not apply to those working for third-party contractors. The refunds are also not automatic – Congress must approve the measure.
Some affected federal workers who spoke to the BBC said they had resorted to a number of measures, including taking other jobs, racking up credit card bills, tapping into savings or taking on loans at high interest rates to pay their bills.
Thousands have also applied for unemployment benefits.
The Office of Personnel Management, which oversees federal workers, has urged them to reach out to creditors and landlords for a deferral or reduction of payments.
This weekend the shutdown will become the longest in US history.