WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the president has "chosen fear" in making the case to the American people for the border wall and Democrats "want to start with the facts."
Pelosi said Tuesday night in a rebuttal to President Donald Trump's Oval Office address that "we all agree that we need to secure our borders."
She noted that the House passed legislation to reopen government on the first day of the new Congress. But Trump rejects that legislation because it doesn't have funding for his border wall.
She says: "The fact is: President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage, must stop manufacturing a crisis, and must reopen the government."
Trump says illegal immigration is 'crisis'
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump says in an Oval Office address that there is a "growing humanitarian and security crisis" at the U.S.-Mexico border, though crossings have fallen in recent years.
The president said Tuesday night that all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal immigration. He says it strains public resources and drives down jobs and wages.
The president says among those hit hardest by illegal immigration are African-Americans and Hispanics, though he did not provide any evidence to back that up.
The president is trying to convince Americans that the flow of immigrants into the U.S. illegally at the southern border is a crisis.
He asserts that the government remains shut down because Democrats won't fund border security.
