Negotiations broke down during the weekend over funding for immigrant detention beds and physical barriers along the US-Mexico border. Trump's December demand for $5.7 billion to help construct a border wall triggered a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended last month without the president getting wall funding. Trump made a border wall one of his central campaign promises in 2016, saying it is needed to curb illegal immigration, drug trafficking and other crimes. Some negotiators last week held out the option of passing another stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown and allow more time to reach a border deal. A sticking point in the talks has been a Democratic demand for funding fewer detention beds.

Source: Bangkok Post February 11, 2019 20:26 UTC