GOP senator: No border security plan without a wall

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Wednesday said he would not support an agreement on border security that doesn’t include specific funding for a wall along the southern border.

Lankford said during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day” that there are some areas that need a “physical pedestrian barrier” rather than technology.

{mosads}”[A wall] needs to be a part of it. You can’t say we’re going to do everything with technology,” Lankford said. “In urban areas when you’ve got a large town on one side of the border and a large town on the other side of the border, you’ve got to have a physical pedestrian barrier between the two or someone can quickly cross the border.” 

He added that the wall would not be a “2,000-mile-long concrete wall.”

“This is a physical barrier where it’s needed in those certain areas,” he said. “And in other areas we can use technology.”

GOP @SenatorLankford says he won’t accept a plan for border security that doesn’t include a wall.

“It needs to be part of it. You can’t say we’re going to do everything with technology… This is a physical barrier where it’s needed.” https://t.co/prAvLDq0kC pic.twitter.com/5B17hXUrNV

— New Day (@NewDay) January 9, 2019

The federal government is currently in the 19th day of a partial shutdown that was prompted because President Trump refused to sign a funding bill that didn’t include at least $5 billion for a wall along the southern border.

Democrats in Congress have said they are willing to agree to border security funding but have vowed not to approve funding for a wall. They have offered $1.3 billion for border security measures.

Trump on Tuesday used a prime-time address from the Oval Office to push for the wall, claiming that it’s necessary to confront a “growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border.