President Donald Trump landed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on Tuesday morning and took a helicopter to Brown Field to view eight prototypes of his border wall.
Air Force One touched down at 11:28 a.m. on the President’s first trip to California — a state that overwhelmingly voted for Hillary Clinton — since taking office.
Minutes later, Marine One left the air station to take the President to Brown Field in Otay Mesa, which is a few miles from the border. From there he took a motorcade to the site of the prototype wall sections.
At approximately 12:20 a.m. he was at the border, being briefed by Border Patrol agents.
Trump told reporters during the inspection that he has a strong preference for a border wall that would allow law enforcement to see through into Mexico.
“You have to have see through. You have to know what’s on the other side of the wall. You could be two feet away from a criminal cartel and not even know they’re there,” he said.
A group of supporters rallied not far from the prototypes. Chanting “build that wall” and “we love Trump,” a group of at least 100 supporters of the President and his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border gathered in Otay Mesa.
Meanwhile, anti-Trump protesters rallied near the Plaza Las Americas mall in San Ysidro with signs including “love has no borders” and “no hate in the Golden State.”
After inspecting the wall prototypes, Trump is scheduled to address Marines at Miramar and then board Air Force One to travel to a Republican Party fundraiser in Los Angeles.
