U.S. President, on Sunday, threatened to shut down the federal government if the Congress refuses to pass changes to the immigration law, which includes appropriate funding of border-wall near Mexico. He tweeted, “I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall!” and added, “Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to the system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!”

However, he was immediately shunned by the Republicans as the National Republican Congressional Committee leader, Steve Stivers (Ohio) stated, “I don’t think we’re going to shut down the government. You know, I think we’re going to make sure we keep the government open, but we’re going to get better policies on immigration,” Stivers said on ABC News’s “This Week.”

The President has threatened to shut down the government several times in the past, in fact, ever since he has taken office in 2017. Trump expects Congress to pass legislation that determines the immigration issues faced, which also includes building the border-wall against Mexico.

Trump has strongly been ballyhooing about toughening the immigration laws that includes a travel ban on people, predominantly from the Muslim background to the much recent separation of illegal immigrant children from their parents at the U.S. - Mexico border. So far, Trump has not received the kind of funding he expected from Congress with respect to the proposed wall on the U.S. Mexico border.

As per Trump's proposal, a request of $25 billion has been stated to build the border wall out of which, $1.6 billion has already been appropriated. On the same, Paul Ryan, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker, said, “We really just want to get the military funded, on time, on budget on schedule this year. And that’s the primary concern.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 29, 2018 10:44 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).