Donald Trump has threatened to use emergency powers to bypass Congress and get billions of dollars to pay for his border wall.
The US president visited McAllen, Texas, on Thursday and hosted a roundtable in an attempt to garner support for the wall, which he needs $5.7 billion to build.
Tearful family members of people killed by illegal immigrants and border patrol agents who are not receiving pay checks during the shutdown appeared alongside Mr Trump during the hour-long event.
Plastic-wrapped bricks of heroin, seized guns and a plastic bag full of cash were prominently displayed at the meeting with local lawmakers and ranchers.
He said: "If we don't have a barrier, a very substantial barrier of some kind, you're not going to be able to solve this problem.”
The president also claimed that a wall on the US-Mexico border would stop 90 to 95 per cent of human trafficking
He said women and children are the biggest victims of people smuggling across the border and said he will "take care of this problem."
Mr Trump says he doesn't care what his "powerful steel barrier" is called but that "we need it there."
He also criticised US immigration law and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
He said there are 800,000 people awaiting trial in the system and that illegal immigrants who set "one foot on US soil" should be sent home.
Mr Trump went on to visit the Rio Grande, where he said "a lot of the crime in our country is caused by what's coming through here".
A law enforcement officer told Mr Trump during his tour that a greater percentage of apprehensions in recent weeks have involved people from places other than Mexico and Central America.
He cited people from Pakistan, China and India as specific examples.
Trump told reporters: "So they apprehended people from the Middle East and they do it all the time."
He added: "Whether it's steel or concrete, you don't care. We need a barrier."
The president also cancelled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos because of the US government shutdown.
He tweeted on Thursday that he was "respectfully cancelling" his "very important trip" because of the Democrats' "intransigence."
The cancellation suggests that he expects the shutdown to continue until at least January 21.
Protestors gathered in the border town before the president arrived, with the famous Trump Baby blimp being launched.
Montana politician Scott Sales, a Republican who leads the state Senate, has suggested the state donates $8 million to help build the wall.
State senators in South Dakota have passed a resolution urging construction of the steel barrier, with the Republican-dominated chamber voting 28-5 in favour of the measure.
Republican state Sen. Stace Nelson, the main sponsor of the measure, says South Dakota has a chance to be part of the national discussion over President Donald Trump's border wall.
Democratic Sen. Craig Kennedy, an opponent, called the measure "pure politics".
