Vice President Mike Pence, while making appearances on three network news programs Tuesday morning, said President Donald Trump is still "looking at and considering" whether he should declare the situation at the nation's southern border as a national emergency.
He also said Trump likely use his national address Tuesday night to explain to Americans that there is a "humanitarian and security crisis" going on, and called on Democrats to work on negotiating an end to the budget impasse that has led to a partial government shutdown.
"Sixty-thousand people are now attempting to come into our country illegally every month," the vice president told NBC News reporter Hallie Jackson in an interview airing on NBC News' "Today."
"That's more than 2,000 a day. The vast majority of those people now are families and unaccompanied children, and it simply is overwhelming the ability of our customs and border patrol to address it.”
Trump will also speak about the "17,000 people with criminal records that we've apprehended at our border," said Pence.
"He'll explain the need not just to build a wall, which he's determined to do, but also to provide our border patrol with additional resources, humanitarian, and medical assistance, new technology, but the Democrats need to come to the table and start negotiating.”
"You know that we could resolve this in a matter of hours if the Democrats would come to the table and start negotiating in good faith," Pence told CBS News' "This Morning."
Also appearing on ABC News' "Good Morning America," the vice president said Americans deserve to know that the situation "has become, as The Washington Post' said, is a 'bona fide emergency.'"
Meanwhile, Pence also defended a comment Trump made last week claiming a former president commended him for his wall plans, after Jackson told him the statement had been refuted by representatives from all four former presidents.
“I know the President has said that that was his impression from previous administrations, previous Presidents," said Pence. "I know I've seen clips of previous presidents talking about the importance of border security, the importance of addressing the issue of illegal immigration.”
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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