Donald Trump threatens to ‘shut down’ government if Democrats don’t vote for border wall

U.S. President Donald Trump said he’s “willing to” shut down the government if he doesn’t get the votes he needs on border security.

“I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall!” he wrote Sunday morning on Twitter.

WATCH: Republican lawmakers are dismissing the chances of a government shutdown this October, one month before the midterm elections

1:20 Republicans don’t buy President Trump’s threat of a government shutdown

“Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!”

Typically government shutdowns occur when Congress fails to pass a spending bill for the year; in January the government shut down when Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a deal on how to handle immigration.

WATCH: Donald Trump threatens to remove security clearance for Obama-era officials

1:28 Donald Trump threatens to remove security clearance for Obama-era officials

In a deleted tweet earlier that morning, Trump said there are “consequences when people cross our Border illegally” and claims many who do so are “using children for their own sinister purposes,” and called immigration laws the “dumbest” in the world.

That came after U.S. government officials said more than 1,800 children separated at the U.S.-Mexico border have been reunited with parents and sponsors after a federal judge ordered the reunions. Hundreds of children still remain separated.

0:42 Crowds March Through New York City to Protest Border Separations

• Crowds March Through New York City to Protest Border Separations
• ‘Don’t come to our country illegally’: Trump reiterates support for strengthening borders
• Mother and daughter reunited two months after border separation
• Children sob after separation from parents at U.S.-Mexico border in leaked audio
• Protest at U.S. border processing centre over child separations
• People in over 700 U.S. cities protest separation of migrant children from their parents

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Also on Sunday morning, Trump said he met with the publisher of the New York Times at the White House, and discussed the “fake news” and his comments where he called the media the “enemy of the people.”

He tweeted Sunday: “Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ Sad!”

*with files from the Associated Press