Concrete evidence that Trump will go ahead with building Mexican wall

DONALD TRUMP has ordered four prototypes of his promised wall on the Mexican border.

The US Customs and Border Protection agency announced it had awarded contracts, worth up to $500,000 (£386,000) each, to four construction firms. It gave few details of the prototypes that had been selected apart from that they will all be made of concrete.

Once they are built, officials will spend weeks testing their effectiveness using small hand tools to see how easily they can be damaged or breached.

Funding for four other prototypes of proposed non-concrete versions of the wall will be awarded next week. In total, all of the prototypes will cost $3.6million (£2.77million) and they will be built near San Diego, California.

The four companies selected so far are all based in the US, in Alabama, Arizona, Texas and Mississippi.

The president made the construction of the wall a signature pledge during his election campaign and also promised Mexico would pay for it – but Mexico has refused to do so.

Mr Trump has been seeking funding from Congress and recently threatened to shut down the government if it does not approve money for the project.

It is ultimately expected to cost up to $20 billion (£15.4 billion) to build the structure along the 2,000-mile border.

Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said the concrete prototypes would be up to 30ft high, adding: “Today we mark a significant milestone.”

They will have “anti-climb” features to deter illegal immigrants from sneaking into the US.