With a partial government shutdown looming, President Trump late Friday called on Senate Democrats to approve funds for border security in a video recording posted to Twitter, in which he paired sweeping references to crime with incendiary footage of people moving in large crowds.

“It’s very dangerous out there,” Mr. Trump said, as the screen flashed to groups of people, including a scene of a crowd banging on a fence. “Drugs are pouring in, human trafficking, so many different problems, including gangs like M.S. 13. We don’t want them in the United States.”

OUR GREAT COUNTRY MUST HAVE BORDER SECURITY! pic.twitter.com/ZGcYygMf3a

The video, in which the president again tried to drive home the importance of building a border wall, was reminiscent of other times that he has stoked fears with messages that portrayed immigrants as a threat.

He made the migrant caravan from Central America a central campaign issue during the midterm election, and this fall, major television networks — including Fox News — rejected an inflammatory ad by Mr. Trump’s political team. The ad, which featured footage of an undocumented Mexican immigrant bragging about murder and included ominous music followed by images of the caravan, was widely denounced as racist and misleading.

The government shutdown, which was scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, stems from a showdown over funding for a wall on the southern border, which Mr. Trump promised his supporters he would deliver once he was in the Oval Office.

Mr. Trump has demanded that about $5 billion for the wall be included in a spending bill necessary to keep the government running.

The Senate passed a stopgap spending bill this week that did not include money to build the wall. The House then merged the Senate’s stopgap spending bill with about $5.7 billion in funding for the wall and close to $8 billion in disaster relief funding, but that plan hit a roadblock in the Senate, where Democrats and a few key Republicans were opposed.

The House and the Senate adjourned Friday without resolving the impasse, sending the government barreling toward a partial shutdown. Both chambers were scheduled to reconvene Saturday at noon.

But Mr. Trump did not wait to send a message and, Friday night, released the video on Twitter, a communication style he has taken to in recent days. He stressed the need for border security, which he described as “a wall or a slat fence or whatever you want to call it.”

“We need a great barrier,” he said.

He also moved to blame Democrats for the government shutdown, which he had initially indicated he would be willing to own. “I am proud to shut down the government for border security,” he said during a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders this month. “I will take the mantle,” Mr. Trump went on. “I will be the one to shut it down — I’m not going to blame you for it.”

But he reversed his rhetoric on Friday, and in the video he said there was “nothing we can do” about the government shutdown because he needed cooperation from Democrats.

“Call it a Democrat shutdown, call it whatever you want,” he said, “but we need their help to get this approved.”

James Williamson contributed reporting.

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