As the US government shutdown rolled through its eighth day with no resolution in sight, Donald Trump stayed hunkered down in the White House, talking at Democrats but not with them in a series of confrontational tweets about his demand for a border wall.
“I am in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal on Border Security,” the president tweeted, seemingly as impervious to mounting criticism over his lack of outreach as he is to reminders of his campaign promise that Mexico would pay for the wall.
On Saturday afternoon, he tried a more inflammatory tactic: “Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try!”
Two Guatemalan children have died in US custody this month. Contrary to Trump’s claim, people entering the US away from official ports of entry are legally allowed to claim asylum, as the supreme court has confirmed.
Trump claimed: “The two children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol. The father of the young girl said it was not their fault, he hadn’t given her water in days. Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end. They are working so hard [and] getting so little credit!”
Jakelin Caal, seven, died on 8 December, less than two days after being apprehended by the border patrol. Her cause of death is not known. Attorneys for the family have said the family gave Jakelin water.
Felipe Gómez Alonzo, eight, died late on Christmas Eve. New Mexico authorities said an autopsy showed he had flu, but more tests needed to be done.
The homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, was in Yuma, Arizona on Saturday, having visited El Paso in Texas on Friday. In a statement, she said: “The system is clearly overwhelmed and we must work together to address this humanitarian crisis and protect vulnerable populations.” Nielsen called on Congress to “act with urgency”.
But there is no sign of an end to the standoff. The president will not sign any funding legislation sent by Congress without $5bn for building a wall. Democrats, who take over the House of Representatives on 3 January, will not give it to him.
Each side blames the other for the consequent government shutdown, the effects of which grow more severe. About 800,000 federal employees are either at home or working without pay. Federal payments to some farmers hit by Trump’s trade war with China will be put on hold from next week. The work of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is increasingly affected.
Trump has repeatedly tweeted about the Democrats’ supposed disregard for border security. Democratic leaders have repeatedly pointed to an Oval Office meeting in which Trump said he would be proud to cause a shutdown, and to his U-turn on a Senate deal to continue funding the government.
On Friday, the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, told Fox News: “There’s not a single Democrat talking to the president … about this deal.” Democrats have repeatedly said they will simply pass legislation to fund the government, without a wall, once they take the House.
Mulvaney also sought to pin blame on the incoming House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, whom the administration has sought to portray as a prisoner of the left of her party. But neither Trump nor anyone from his administration has spoken to Pelosi since the 11 December Oval Office meeting. Justin Goodman, a spokesman for the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, told reporters: “For the White House to try and blame anyone but the president for this shutdown doesn’t pass the laugh test.”
On Friday night, Trump met Vice-President Mike Pence at the US Naval Observatory. Mulvaney and senior adviser Jared Kushner also attended. The press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said Trump had “no plans as of now” to travel to Florida for the new year.
On Saturday the president also tweeted a complaint about Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow, and said he had “a long and very good call with President Xi of China”, about trade.
Hit by the shutdown, government agencies scrambled to provide key services. The EPA said it would keep disaster-response teams and other essential workers on the job. As winter storms hit swaths of the country, the administration decided to reverse Department of Homeland Security guidance that would have prevented the writing or renewing of National Flood Insurance Program policies during the shutdown.
Vital Department of Agriculture programs will remain operational, though that could change if the shutdown drags on. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known colloquially as food stamps, helps feed about 40 million people. According to the department, recipients are guaranteed benefits through January.
Other programmes including WIC, which provides food and counseling for pregnant women, new mothers and children, and food distribution programmes on Indian reservations, will continue. School lunches will continue through February.
In Washington, the Smithsonian museums and galleries will close on 2 January. So will the National Zoo. The National Gallery of Art will close on 3 January. The shutdown is also affecting national parks.
The federal Office of Personnel Management posted online letters it said workers could send to landlords and creditors. Some such workers spoke to media outlets.
Brooke Cole, who works for the coast guard in Port Angeles, Washington, told National Public Radio: “I only have about $1,000 in savings. I have to pay my rent, I have a car payment, childcare payments, student loan payments, utility payments, all sorts of fun stuff.”
Dena Ivey, a probate specialist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Anchorage, Alaska, told the New York Times: “We’re sort of being held hostage.”
