President Trump on Sunday quoted Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton supporting border security, pushing Democrats to relent in the standoff over spending on a border wall.

The president used the quotes to hammer home his message that “walls work.”

In a series of tweets, Mr. Trump quoted Mr. Obama in 2005 saying, “We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked.”

He quoted Mrs. Clinton in 2015 saying, “I voted, when I was a Senator, to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in.”

Mr. Trump has argued that Capitol Hill Democrats only oppose his $5.6 billion request for border security, including a wall or barrier on the southern border, to stop him from fulfilling a top campaign promise.

The standoff over border security spending has resulted in a partial government shutdown now in its 16th day.

White House and congressional negotiators were scheduled to meet Sunday after scant progress was made in a sesson Saturday.

The president had not backed off the $5.6 billion figure and Democrats remained determined to deny funds for a “border wall.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said a border wall is “immoral.”

Mr. Trump headed Sunday to Camp David to meet with White House staff about the border security issue and other 2019 priorities.

“We have to build the wall or we have to build a barrier,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he left the White House. “It’s a very important battle to win.”

Mr. Trump stressed that he had accepted the need for a steel bollard-type barrier instead of a concrete wall, which he promised during the 2016 campaign.

Mr. Trump has vacillated on what to call the border barriers he wants to build. However, he recently acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security does not want a solid, concrete wall on most parts of the border.

Corrugated steel barriers on the border is what Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton voted for when they were senators who helped pass the 2006 Secure Fence Act.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.