Trump Says US Still Needs Border Wall Despite Decline in Illegal Crossings

US President Donald Trump claimed on Friday the United States still needs a wall along its border with Mexico to tackle the human trafficking and drug inflow into the country, despite reported decline in crossings.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Trump said that a wall along the US-Mexico border is still necessary despite assertions from opponents of the proposal that the recent drop in illegal border crossings makes it unnecessary.

"We’ve done so unbelievably at the borders already that [opponents] are trying to use it against us," Trump said. "But you need that wall to stop the human trafficking, to stop drugs, to stop the wrong people."

Trump explained that Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly believes the wall is "very important."

Democrats, some Republicans and experts have called the wall — which was a central promise of Trump’s presidential campaign — unnecessary and too costly to build.

Trump said on Friday that the wall would not have to be a single continuous structure because parts of the US-Mexico border are already delineated by rivers and other large structures currently in place.

Earlier this week Trump said he would not sign a spending bill to prevent a government shutdown if it did not contain funding for a border wall, but later relented.