BORDER/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “Construction crews are erecting eight looming prototypes of President Trump’s border wall in a remote section of the San Diego borderlands. Four are solid concrete; four are made of steel and concrete; one is topped with spikes. They all approach 30 feet in height. Customs and Border Protection is paying $20 million to six construction companies from Mississippi, Maryland, Alabama, Texas and Arizona. Crews in white hardhats operating cranes and forklifts are expected to complete the models by the end of the month.
Once the sections of wall are finished, CBP — parent agency of the Border Patrol — will evaluate them for three criteria…
While the mockups are massive, it’s anybody’s guess whether they’ll ever get built. Trump’s border wall is opposed by congressional Democrats, as well as most of California’s and San Diego’s leadership. But they’re certainly getting lots of press…
CBP expected the prototypes to spark big protests similar to the crowds that massed at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota last year decrying the pipeline. Officials even set aside a ‘free speech zone’ and planned contingencies if trouble broke out. But since construction began three weeks ago, there have been no demonstrators.”
-John Burnett, “30-Foot Border Wall Prototypes Erected In San Diego Borderlands,” NPR, Oct. 19, 2017 08:33am