Trump on border wall: ‘I will get it built’

President Trump declared during his State of the Union address Tuesday that he would get a wall built along U.S.-Mexico border.

“In the past, most of us, the people in this room, voted for a wall,” he said. “But the proper wall never got built. I will get it built.”

‘In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall,’ President Trump vows to build the wall during his #SOTU address. Watch live: https://t.co/xQzf2Hkbel pic.twitter.com/T2tEVyN70B

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) February 6, 2019

{mosads}Trump later said the wall would be “a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier,” rather than “just a simple concrete wall.”

“It will be deployed in the areas identified by the border agents as having the greatest need,” he added. “And these border agents will tell you, where walls go up, illegal crossings go way, way down.”

Trump has long sought to secure funding to construct a wall along the southern border. His demand for $5.7 billion from Congress contributed to the recent partial government shutdown, which lasted 35 days.

The shutdown ended on Jan. 25 when Trump signed a short-term funding bill, which didn’t include wall funding, that keeps the government open through Feb. 15, giving the president and Congress more time to reach a deal and avoid another shutdown.

Trump on Tuesday called on lawmakers to “work together” and “reach a deal” on the wall.

“Simply put, walls work and walls save lives,” he said. “So let’s work together, compromise and reach a deal that will truly make America safe.”