Trump takes step forward on border wall

Four companies awarded contracts to build concrete prototypes to be ready in fall

WASHINGTON— The Trump administration on Thursday announced it has chosen four companies to build concrete prototypes of the president’s much-touted border wall.

Construction of the prototypes, to take place in San Diego, is the first step in fulfilling U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign promise of building a “big, beautiful” wall stretching along the 3,200-kilometre Mexico border.

“Today we mark a significant milestone,” said Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “This is the first tangible result of the action planning that has gone on. This is the use of the resources we had available for this year.”

There appears to be a lack of political will to fund a continuous barrier. Congress has set aside $20 million (U.S.) in the current budget to build the prototypes but has not appropriated any other money for the wall. Each of the four contracts are worth between just under $400,000 and $500,000, Vitiello said.

The companies chosen are: Caddell Construction in Montgomery, Ala.; Fisher Sand & Gravel/DBA Fisher Industries in Tempe, Ariz.; Texas Sterling Construction in Houston, Texas; and W.G. Yates & Sons Construction in Philadelphia, Miss.

Construction is expected to begin on the concrete prototypes in two weeks, Vitiello said, and should be complete this fall within 30 days after breaking ground.

Each prototype will be nine metres long and up to nine metres high, and will be located within close proximity of each other, he said. They will act as a secondary barrier in a border enforcement zone that already has a fence.

Homeland Security officials will then spend 30 to 60 days using small hand tools to test the prototypes to see how resistant they are to tampering and penetration, Vitiello said. Officials will consider esthetics as well as anti-climb features and how technology could be used to complement the physical barrier.

“We are not just asking for a physical structure,” Vitiello said. “We’re asking for all the tools that help secure the border.”

The administration was originally expected to announce its decision on prototypes in June, but the contracting process was delayed after protests from two companies that had not made the list of finalists.

The Government Accountability Office dismissed the protests last Friday, but unsuccessful bidders now have another opportunity to file new protests, which could further delay construction.

During his visit last week to Phoenix, Trump threatened to shut down the government if Congress does not agree to fund his wall in September.

“Believe me, if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” Trump said during his Arizona rally. “The American people voted for immigration control. That’s one of the reasons I’m here, and that is what the American people deserve, and they’re going to get it.”

Eleven hundred kilometres of fencing has already been built in the most critical areas, following the 2006 Secure Fence Act under President George W. Bush. And there’s been a significant decrease in the number of illegal border crossers since Trump took office.