Taking shape, Trump’s Great Wall of Mexico

on the campaign trail he crowed about his ‘big, beautiful wall’.

If this is anything to go by, Donald Trump will get a Mexican border barrier that’s big, at least.

Standing 30ft tall, the imposing structure has a sheer, 12-inch thick concrete face topped by an angled spiked grille.

It is just one of the prototypes of the controversial wall being constructed at a test site in San Diego, California.

Eight will be built there in the coming weeks and Mr Trump will choose the one he wants to erect along 1,200 miles of the US border with Mexico that have no barrier at the moment.

US border protection officials have not released detailed descriptions of what the walls are made of because they do not want drug runners and people smugglers to know what they are up against.

But according to tendering documents each structure has to be ‘physically imposing’ so nobody could climb it from either side unassisted. The prototypes must include a topping – which this one does – to stop climbing aids like grappling hooks.

The walls will go at least 6ft underground to prevent tunnelling and be strong enough to last 30 minutes of attempts to breach it, giving border agents enough time to intercept the smugglers. The documents state that the first 12ft of wall must be especially

‘Withstand a sledgehammer’

tough and be able to withstand an assault from a ‘sledgehammer, car jack, pickaxe, chisel, battery-operated impact tools, cutting tools, propane or butane or other similar hand-held tools’.

Four US construction companies are building concrete prototypes at a total cost of between £1.8million and £3million. Four other designs are in the pipeline.

Whilst there are no stipulations for the appearance of the Mexican side of the wall, the US side must look ‘aesthetically pleasing in colour’ and be ‘consistent with the general surrounding environment’.

During his election campaign Mr Trump promised that he would build a ‘big, beautiful wall’ to keep out drugs and illegal immigrants from Mexico. Some 408,870 were apprehended at the border last year.

It became a key pledge and at rallies his supporters still chant: ‘Build the wall! Build the wall!’

Although the President claimed that Mexico would pay for the wall, that promise looks increasingly unlikely and so he is turning to Congress to foot the bill, which experts say could be as high as £19billion.

But Democrats are staunchly opposed to the project – and even Republicans see tax reform as a higher priority.