President Trump held a campaign rally Monday night in El Paso, Texas — just as possible 2020 contender and former U.S. Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke led a border wall protest roughly a half-mile away.
Trump’s event, held at the El Paso County Coliseum for his first “Make America Great Again Rally” of the year, touched on border security, as the town sits along the U.S.-Mexico border.
EL PASO BRISTLES AT TRUMP’S CLAIM THAT WALL MADE CITY SAFE
The president announced his rally on Tuesday night during his second State of the Union address, in which he alleged El Paso is now one of the nation’s safest cities because of a “powerful barrier” that was put in place — a claim that others disputed.
O’Rourke, meanwhile, will be protesting such a wall with his one-mile march, that will conclude with a speech critical of Trump’s push for billions in federal funding for a border wall.
The continued push for funding comes days before the government funding deadline. If funding isn’t approved — a battle which sparked the nation’s longest government shutdown in history — the government will face a second partial shutdown on Friday.
BORDER-SECURITY ADVOCATES FORM ‘HUMAN WALL’ ALONG US-MEXICO BORDER
The White House last month agreed to a temporary spending bill to end the 35-day partial shutdown, although Trump said at the time that the move was not a “concession” and that he would not relent on his demands for a wall.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Earlier Monday, negotiators in Congress announced that they had reached an agreement in principle to fund the government and avoid another partial government shutdown. The emerging agreement was announced by a group of lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Richard Shelby and Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey, after a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill.
The talks had cratered over the weekend because of Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, but lawmakers apparently broke through that impasse Monday evening
The Associated Press contributed to this report.