Stephen Dinan reports at the Washington Times,
Homeland Security said it began construction Tuesday on the prototypes for President Trump’s new border wall.Read more here.
In a short notice, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the building began in San Diego on eight prototypes, which had been awarded over the summer.
Four of the prototypes are concrete walls and four are nonconcrete designs, all selected from dozens of proposals submitted by contractors earlier this year.
...The designs are between 18 and 30 feet, and will be evaluated on how well they deter climbers, how well they withstand breach attempts and what sort of awareness they allow agents who patrol the border. The prototypes are expected to be finished within 30 days.
...The concrete designs are less useful right along the border, officials said, and will likely be used as secondary fencing set back a bit.
About 354 miles of the 1,952-mile border are currently protected by some form of wall. Another 300 miles have vehicle barriers, which allow easy penetration by pedestrians or animals but are designed to stop trucks and cars from barreling over the border.
...His 2017 budget called for money for replacing some outdated parts of the current wall, while his 2018 plan asked for $1.6 billion to erect 32 miles of new fencing in Texas, another 28 miles of new levee wall, also in Texas, and 14 miles of replacement fencing in San Diego.
The House has approved the money, but the Senate has yet to take up the bill, and Democrats have announced they will try to derail any legislation that includes border wall money.
There is enough money in the current 2017 budget to pay for the prototypes.
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