Protection sought for wall prototypes

Arts group suggests ideas be preserved as monument

As the federal government wraps up its evaluation of eight potential versions of President Donald Trump’s border wall, an arts group is proposing the 30foot prototypes near San Diego be preserved as a national monument.

The newly formed MAGA, which describes itself as a non-profit arts group, is circulating a petition calling on Congress or the president to declare the eight prototypes as a national monument under the Antiquities Act. The group’s name is a play on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

“The eight border wall prototypes have significant cultural value and are historical land art,” the group wrote on a website where it is collecting petition signatures. A petition the group launched on the White House’s “We

The People” site isn’t currently available because the site is down for maintenance.

The group’s lead organizer, Christoph Büchel, is a European artist known for provocative projects. He has said the prototypes are representative of the political moment and should be memorialized.

“This is a collective sculpture; people elected this artist,” Büchel told the New York Times, referring to Trump and the prototypes.

The prototypes — four concrete and four built with alternate construction materials — are on an isolated plot about the size of a football field just feet from the Mexico border east of San Diego. The area is used exclusively by the Border Patrol for enforcement.

Büchel told the newspaper that even if the wall is never built along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.Mexico border, the prototypes should be preserved as a reminder that the idea was politically viable.

Furthering the group’s premise that the prototypes should be considered as art, it is offering art tours of the site. (The Saturday tour is sold out.)

Since access to them from the American side is tightly controlled by Border Patrol, the media and curious members of the public have crossed into Mexico to get a closer look.

The prototypes face a working-class neighborhood in the border city of Tijuana, and there are several dirt mounds and trash piles that allow for clear views over the steel mat fencing that delineates the international boundary.

Any monument designation would be highly controversial given the divisive nature of the prototypes and Trump’s plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition, Trump has criticized what he considers the overuse of the Antiquities Act of 1906. Last month, he signed a proclamation reducing the size of two national monuments in Utah.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not commented on the petition.

Construction of the prototypes ended in October, and officials began testing them in December. That process is expected to wrap by the end of the month, according to CBP.

The agency has not announced what will happen to the prototypes once testing and evaluation is completed in the coming weeks. In its call for submissions and in media interviews the agency left open the possibility that they’ll keep the structures in place, at least for now.

The total costs of designing, building and evaluating the border wall prototypes is $20 million, which CBP set aside in its 2017 budget.

CBP has said the eight border-wall prototypes will influence the design and construction of additional barriers built along the U.S.-Mexico border. Last week, the Trump administration offered its most detailed plan yet to achieve this, asking Congress to set aside $18 billion dollars over the next 10 years for that purpose.

The money would be used to build 316 miles of new barriers. The $18 million would also fund 407 miles of replacement or secondary fencing, which is intended to give Border Patrol greater control of certain sections of the border.

In July, House Republicans allocated $1.6 billion in the 2018 budget to build or replace 74 miles of fencing in San Diego and southern Texas. However, the Senate hasn’t taken up that measure.