President Trump will tell America Tuesday night that there is a crisis at the border that demands a solution from Congress in the form of a border wall.
“When the president addresses the nation tonight, he’ll be laying out the facts to the American people of what is a genuine humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border,” Pence told CBS News.
“The American people will hear from the president tonight that we have a crisis, and we have to address it,” he added.
Will President Trump declare a national emergency in his address to the nation tonight? — @MajorCBS
“He’ll be laying out the facts to the American people of what is a genuine humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.” — @VP Pence pic.twitter.com/qJfl2Jo3YG
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 8, 2019
Pence said more than 60,000 people have tried to cross the southern border illegally over the last few months, mostly families and unaccompanied alien children. He said those numbers are “overwhelming” U.S. border agents, and said another problem is the flow of illegal drugs across the border.
Trump has said he is looking into whether he can get the wall funding he needs by declaring a national emergency. In his CBS interview, Pence said Trump is continuing to examine that possibility, but did not say he would try to go around Congress in that way.
The media has bashed the Trump administration for playing up the number of terrorist suspects seized at the border. Pence told ABC News that 3,000 “special interest aliens” from parts of the world with terrorism problems have been apprehended at the border.
[Related: Scarborough: Americans are ‘stupid’ for believing there’s a border crisis]
