EL PASO, Texas (CN) – In his first campaign-style rally of the year, President Donald Trump assured supporters that his signature promise of a border wall will be built “any way,” blocks away from where Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke held his own rally decrying the administration’s illegal immigration policies.
About 6,500 people filled the El Paso County Coliseum for Trump’s rally just as congressional negotiators announced that a deal had been reached to fund construction of new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border for about $1.4 billion.
O’Rourke, the former three-term congressman from El Paso, spoke at about the same time Trump rallied supporters, in venues less than a mile apart, and with messages that offered wildly different views of the country.
Before delivering his remarks, O’Rourke, his wife Amy and their three children joined a one-mile march with hundreds of opponents of Trump’s proposed border wall toward Trump’s rally.
Trump’s visit to El Paso, just north of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, came four days before the government was set to shutdown if a deal with a bipartisan group of lawmakers over funding to build a wall along the southern border fell through before a Friday deadline.
The Trump administration initially requested $5.7 billion for a border wall and suggested another government shutdown is possible if wall funding is not included in the deal. The agreement calls for construction of 55 miles of fencing, such as metal slats rather than a wall, in the Rio Grande Valley.
Trump took the stage around 8:20 p.m. to the song “I’m Proud to Be an American” and chants of “USA! USA! USA!” He downplayed news that the bipartisan committee had struck a deal to avert another government shutdown.
“They said progress is being made with this committee. Just so you know we are building the wall any way. I said, ‘Wait a minute I have to take care of my people from Texas. I don’t even want to hear about it.’”
But before a hometown audience Monday night, O’Rourke offered a preview of what a potential Trump-O’Rourke match-up would look like. At one point he led the crowd in chants of “Si se puede!” and accused Trump “of spreading lies.”
Speculation is swirling on Capitol Hill that Trump may try to use his executive powers to divert money earmarked for natural disaster recovery in California and Puerto Rico to pay for border wall construction.
He slammed Democrats for proposing a cap on ICE detention beds, claiming it would result in thousands of undocumented immigrants, including rapists and murderers, being released into cities across the country.
ICE’s average daily population of detainees for fiscal year 2019, starting Oct. 1, 2018, has been 45,890 immigrants, and 2,151 members of family units, for a total of 48,747 in custody, the agency said Monday.
He also belittled O’Rourke for leading a march in El Paso in protest of his rally. He said that in addition to the 10,000 people in the building, there were tens of thousands more outside watching on screens. Fire department officials said the building was at capacity with 6,500 people with perhaps a few thousand outside.
“A young man who has very little going for himself, except a great first name, he challenged us. So we have 35,000 people tonight and he has 100 or 200 people. Not too good. I would say that may be the end of his presidential bid,” Trump said.
Through chants of “Beto! Beto!” O’Rourke took on Trump directly several times, condemning his administration’s family separation policy, past statements about illegal immigrants, and threats to declare a national emergency in order to secure wall funding.