New York: US President Donald Trump has sought to end the longest federal government shutdown in US history by announcing a compromise proposal that would fund his promised border wall while providing protections for immigrants at risk of deportation.

In an address from the White House on Saturday local time, Trump struck an unusually conciliatory tone, describing his plan as a "straightforward, fair and reasonable" attempt at bipartisan compromise.

But the President's proposal received a frosty reception from leading Democrats who said his offer did not go far enough to protect undocumented immigrants who had entered the US as children.

They insisted any negotiations over a border security should not begin until the government re-opens.