(McAllen, TX) -- President Trump says improving security at the southern border is common sense. He visited the border region near McAllen yesterday with Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and several other federal, state and local officials.
The President was escorted by the head of the south Texas sector of the Border Patrol who showed him bundles of drugs seized by agents in the area near Anzalduas Park. The President said he may have to declare a national emergency at the border if negotiations with Democrats on wall funding fail.
President Trump claims there is a "tremendous flood" of illegal immigration, drug trafficking and human trafficking at the U.S.-Mexican border. Speaking in McAllen today, Trump also cited the flow of criminal gangs.
He again insisted that Mexico will pay for a massive border wall, indirectly. Trump said that will happen in the new North American trade deal, which must be approved by Congress. Trump's demand for border wall funding is at the heart of the dispute that prompted the partial shutdown of the federal government.