Speculation has grown that Mr Trump is preparing to act on his suggestion in recent days that he could declare a national emergency if Congress blocks his demand for $US5.7 billion ($8 billion) in wall funding.
It is not clear where the wall money would come from in the event of an emergency declaration.
Critics have slammed the White House and president for concocting a “fake crisis” on the border that echoes Mr Trump’s efforts just before the November midterm elections to ramp up claims of a “caravan” of migrants headed north.
“This is all pre-packaged drama,” said Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. “If this was a national emergency, this would have been addressed months ago,” he told MSNBC.
The president’s latest move to force a showdown on wall funding coincides with signs some Republicans are becoming increasingly uneasy about the partial government shutdown, which is affecting more than 800,000 workers around the country.
Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said on MSNBC that federal employees have “been kicked into the middle of a political fight that they didn’t create and that they don’t have the authority to try and resolve”.
“This has gone way too far,” added Reardon, whose union represents 150,000 members at 33 federal agencies and departments. “Get these people back to work and get them paid.”
Trump said on Monday (AEDT) that he understood the predicament facing federal workers who were not being paid.
“I can relate, and I’m sure the people who are on the receiving end will make adjustments; they always do,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.
He also claimed that “many of those people agree with what I’m doing”: refusing to reopen the government without securing funding for the wall, one of his signature campaign promises.
With The Washington Post.
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