Sen. John Hoeven said a border security solution cleared by both chambers of Congress, without intervention from the president, is “the best solution.” | Joe Raedle/Getty Images Trump could ‘be forced’ to declare national emergency, GOP border negotiator says

A Republican member of the bipartisan group of lawmakers charged with striking a deal on immigration measures said Sunday that President Donald Trump “would be forced” to declare a national emergency to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border if Congress cannot broker an agreement.

“I think what the president is saying is if we don’t compromise — and he’s put compromise on the table, real compromise, things the Democrats want — but if we can't get compromise out of [House] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and get to a good solution, then he would be forced to go the national emergency route,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) told host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”


Hoeven added that a border security solution cleared by both chambers of Congress, without intervention from the president, is still “the best solution.”

Addressing reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said “I don’t expect much” to come out of the ongoing negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on the 17-member conference committee ahead of a looming Feb. 15 government shutdown deadline.

“I keep hearing the words that, 'We’ll give you what you want,' but 'We’re not going to give you a wall.' And the problem is: If they don’t give us a wall, it doesn't work. Without a wall, it doesn’t work,” Trump said.

Pelosi on Thursday said “there’s not going to be any wall money” in any congressional compromise, and one of her top lieutenants on border security talks held that line on Sunday.

“We’re not going to have a wall,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who represents a border district, told Wallace.

“The president is looking at a false premise,” Cuellar added. “He thinks that the only way you secure the border is by having a wall. That is a false premise. There are other ways of securing the border.”

Cuellar emphasized the legal doubts surrounding Trump’s threats to declare a national emergency to begin wall construction, saying that “any reasonable judge is going to say this is not an emergency.”

Speaking Friday at a meeting on human trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump said he would likely issue an emergency declaration. When asked whether he would do so in his upcoming State of the Union address to members of Congress, he told reporters to "listen closely" to his speech on Tuesday.

"I don't want to say," the president said. "But you'll hear the State of the Union and then you'll see what happens right after the State of the Union."