US-Mexico border Row: Need to deal with Democrat leaders to end shutdown, says Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump on Sunday acknowledged that weekend shutdown talks led by his vice president would not break an impasse, as newly empowered House Democrats planned to step up the pressure on Trump and Republican lawmakers to reopen the government. Trump is showing no signs of budging on his demand for US Dollar 5.6 billion for a wall along the US-Mexico border. “I can make the deal with Democratic leaders in 20 minutes if they want to," Trump said. Earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she intends to begin passing individual bills to reopen agencies in the coming days, starting with the Treasury Department to ensure people receive their tax funds.

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Trump said earlier in the day that he was hoping for some very serious talks come Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. "Democrats and now a growing number of Republicans are coming together and saying let's open up the government and debate border security separately," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters in New York.

Earlier, Donald Trump had threatened to "entirely close" the Southern border with Mexico and change the immigration laws if the opposition Democrats did not agree to his demand of funding for a border wall. The Trump administration is seeking more than US dollar 5 billion for the construction of the border wall. Trump also threatened to end all US aid to three Latin American countries--Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras-- arguing that these nations have done nothing to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the US. Donald Trump made a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking a key campaign promise in the 2016 election when he said it would be paid for by Mexico. 

"We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with. Hard to believe there was a Congress & President who would approve," Trump had said in a series of four tweets.

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"The United States looses soooo much money on Trade with Mexico under NAFTA, over 75 Billion Dollars a year (not including Drug Money which would be many times that amount), that I would consider closing the Southern Border a 'profit making operation'," the US President had tweeted.

"We build a wall or close the Southern Border. Bring our car industry back into the United States where it belongs. Go back to pre-NAFTA, before so many of our companies and jobs were so foolishly sent to Mexico. Either we build (finish) the Wall or we close the Border..," Trump had said.