Construction workers Wednesday were dismantling Otay Mesa prototypes of President Donald Trump’s signature wall to make room for new secondary fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Construction crews are in the process of replacing roughly 12 miles of fencing, stretching inland from Border Field State Park past the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a waiver earlier this month to expedite the process of replacing the existing barrier with 30- foot bollard fencing.
The eight prototypes were completed in October 2017. Federal officials, including Trump, have visited the construction site multiple times to see the wall sections for themselves. CBP awarded more than $3 million in contracts to create the prototypes, four of which were made from reinforced concrete.
Construction on the wall still hasn’t begun in earnest beyond the prototypes, many of which were porous, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A September report from CBP found that the eight prototypes were breached in some way in at least 13 places when tested by U.S. Special Operations Command and the Marine Corps Special Operations Command.
DHS officials did not disclose when the fencing replacement would be completed.
–City News Service
