Drone Footage Reveals A First Look Of Trump's Border Wall Prototypes

Over the past four weeks, workers have been toiling (mostly in intense 90+ degree heat) to put final touches on eight possible versions of President Donald Trump"s long-promised border wall, ahead of an October 26 deadline to finish the prototype border-wall designs located just a few dozen years from the border that divides San Diego from Tijuana. U.S. Customs and Border Protection awarded eight contracts to six companies to build the prototypes. Four are made of reinforced concrete, and another four incorporate additional construction materials. Construction began on Sept. 26, giving companies 30 days to finish, according to the Arizona Republic.

By Wednesday, five of the wall designs had already been completed and were fenced off with caution tape, but - as the following video shows - crews were still at work on others, installing vertical concrete panels on one design, using cranes and bulldozers to place them upright. Another two prototypes were in various stages of construction on the demonstration site, located about 2 miles east of San Diego"s Otay Mesa border crossing, in the foothills of the Otay Mountains. At roughly 30 feet, the designs dwarf the petite, primary fence that currently designates the international boundary — it"s made of rusted Vietnam War-era landing mats. They are also nearly twice the height of the secondary metal-mesh fence, which ends near where the prototypes are being built.

Their height, officials quoted by the AZ Republic said, is intended to make a statement to criminals and would-be unauthorized crossers: Stay away.

"The 30 feet is very impressive," said Mario Villareal, the division chief for the San Diego Sector Border Patrol. "What we"re trying to accomplish is by putting tactical infrastructure on the border, by having all-weather roads, by putting Border Patrol agents on the immediate border is the deterrence."

Of course, whether the border-wall prototypes "keep people away", is what matters, and will be closely scrutinized in the coming weeks. After they are done, CBP will move to the "test and evaluation" of each of the eight structures.

What do the prototypes look like?

One built by a Maryland company uses concrete at the base with the top two-thirds featuring blue metal panels. Another, built by an Alabama company, has a wide concrete base that gives way to a thinner frame halfway up the structure.  Also, only one of the completed designs incorporates see-through features that would allow Border Patrol agents to monitor activity on the other side of the border.

Initially, Trump called for a solid reinforced concrete design, and several of the finished prototypes seemed to fit that description. Under advisement from CBP, the administration later included "see-through features" in its call for submissions. A second design by the Alabama company features metal bars for the first half of the prototype, narrowly spaced and resembling the bollard-style fencing commonly used at the border in Arizona"s urban areas. But the top half has what appears to be solid concrete panels.

Quoted by the AZ Republic, Border Patrol Agent Theron Francisco said the ability to see across the border can be beneficial. It"s an option they don"t have now with landing-mat fencing in the area. "It"s good to be able to see through the south side. We can see them, they can see us," he said. "But in a way, it can be negative because we"re always being watched. They always can see us. It goes both ways." Meanwhile, the concrete design is made up of three long, concrete frames that gently slope upward from the U.S. side, but are completely vertical on the south side. The concrete is a light tan, nearly the same color as the dusty soil it stands on. 

The cost of eight contracts ranges from $320,000 to $480,000. CBP has already appropriated the funds to pay for them. However, funding for additional construction is still up in the air and remains the object of major political disagreement in Congress.

And until we find out if Trump"s wall will ever amount to anything more than a pipe dream, here is drone footage taken earlier today of the Border Wall prototypes.

Hungary Builds A Wall, Cuts Illegal Immigration By Over 99%

Authored by Jack Montgomery via Breitbart.com,

Hungary has slashed illegal immigration by over 99 per cent after rolling out a series of powerful border fences in response to the European migrant crisis, possibly providing a lesson as to the potential impact of constructing President Trump’s much-discussed southern wall in the U.S.

Speaking on the second anniversary of the government’s move to seal Hungary’s border with Serbia - which is also an external border for the European Union - Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Chief Security Advisor, György Bakondi, announced that the fences have caused illegal immigration to collapse from 391,000 in 2015, to 18,236 in 2016, to just 1,184 in 2017.

“The system of technical barriers is the key to the success of border security, and without it, it would be impossible to stop the mass arrival of immigrants”, the security chief explained.

Hungary had to respond rapidly to the migrant influx which burst upon Europe after Germany’s Angela Merkel announced there was “no limit” on the number of asylum seekers her own country would accept, so its frontiers are defended by twin fences peppered with watchtowers and patrolled by thousands of newly recruited border guards rather than a solid wall — which would have taken longer to construct.

"UN slams Hungary because their wall is doing its job" https://t.co/6n97uC6ykn

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 13, 2017

The Hungarians introduced these zones after it was discovered that many of the Paris 2015 terrorists had passed through their territory - a step-change from other EU member-states, which leave migrants more or less at large, with sometimes deadly consequences, in obedience to EU law.

“There is continuous migration pressure on our borders,” insisted Dr Zoltán Kovács, the Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Relations.

“The measures introduced in the interests of protecting the border continue to be necessary; it is thanks to these that the number of migrants entering Hungary illegally and in an uncontrolled manner has fallen drastically.”

Nevertheless, as it has been steadily reinforced illegal migration has slowed to a trickle - drawing the ire of open borders activists like billionaire financier George Soros and globalist officials at the European Union and the United Nations.

For example, UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi visited the border and complained:

“When I was standing at the border fence today, I felt the entire system is designed to keep people, many of whom are fleeing war and persecution, out of the country”.

Grandi also called on Hungary to get rid of the border-spanning transit zones it has established, which allow all asylum seekers entering the country to be detained while the validity of their claims are assessed.

“People who attack the fence are taking a stand in favour of allowing large numbers of people to enter the country without any form of control,” added Mr. Bakondi.

DHS Selects 4 Contractors To Build Prototypes For Trump's Border Wall

The Department of Homeland Security has finally reached a decision in the long-delayed process of selecting contractors who will build prototypes of President Donald Trump’s promised border wall. The department announced Thursday that it has selected four contractors to build wall prototypes, and that construction is slated to begin this winter, according to CNN.

The announcement comes after the Government Accountability Office on Friday dismissed a complaint filed by contractors who claimed their bids had been passed over, allowing DHS to move forward after the complaints had threatened to delay the selection until November.

Customs and Border Protection"s acting Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello announced that the designs will be constructed along the San Diego border. Four companies will be doing the building: Caddell Construction Co (DE), LLC, of Montgomery, Alabama; Fisher Sand & Gravel Co., DBA Fisher Industries, of Tempe, Arizona; Texas Sterling Construction Co., of Houston, Texas; W. G. Yates & Sons Construction Company, of Philadelphia, Mississippi.  

The government made two requests when it asked for bids: Designs for a 30-foot concrete wall, and anything else. The latter design plan will be revealed next week, CBP said.

According to CNN, construction on the wall prototypes was delayed after the shunned contractors filed protests about the decision back in July. The original plan had been to start construction in June.

However, further delays could ensue if bidders who weren’t selected choose to file complaints, the CBP said.

‘CBP did note that once contracts are awarded, companies will have another opportunity to protest, which could add further delays. Nevertheless, CBP said ‘we are confident in our processes, and we will proceed deliberately, to ensure compliance with the law.’”

The new designs that were selected will be added to the CBP’s “menu” of options for the wall.

“The prototypes will ‘help us create a "design standard" for operational walls,’ CBP said. ‘The new designs would be added to our menu of existing designs, and allow us to tailor a specific wall design to the unique demands of individual areas of the border.’”

The money for the process came from $20 million that Congress authorized the Department of Homeland Security to pull from other places in the budget earlier this year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January directing the federal government to begin construction on the border wall as soon as possible.

Of course, Congress has yet to appropriate any money for construction. Trump, for his part, has vowed to veto any spending bills that reach his desk in September unless they include funding for the wall – a promise that’s been complicated by Hurricane Harvey.

Read the full release below:

* * *

WASHINGTON - U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced today that contracts have been awarded for concrete prototypes of the Border Wall.

The companies selected to construct concrete border wall prototypes are:

Caddell Construction Co., (DE), LLC, Montgomery, Alabama,

Fisher Sand & Gravel Co., DBA Fisher Industries, Tempe, Arizona,

Texas Sterling Construction Co., Houston, Texas, and

W. G. Yates & Sons Construction Company, Philadelphia, Mississippi.

These concrete prototypes will serve two important ends. First, given their robust physical characteristics, like, reinforced concrete, between 18-30 feet high, the concrete border wall prototypes are designed to deter illegal crossings in the area in which they are constructed.

Second, the concrete border wall prototypes will allow CBP to evaluate the potential for new wall and barrier designs that could complement the wall and barrier designs we have used along the border over the last several years. As the border security environment continues to evolve, CBP will continually refresh its own inventory of tools to meet that evolution.

CBP will make a decision on the “other materials” Request for Proposal (RFP) in the next week. CBP officials will meet with the vendors and determine construction timeline, however we expect to construct the prototypes in the fall.

Issued Jan. 25, Presidential Executive Order: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements, states that “the [Department of Homeland Security] Secretary shall take steps to immediately plan, design and construct a physical wall along the southern border, using appropriate materials and technology to most effectively achieve complete operational control of the southern border.”

On March 17, CBP issued two Requests for Proposals to acquire conceptual wall designs with the intent to construct multiple prototypes. One RFP called for concrete wall design and the other RFP called for Other than Concrete wall design. Today, CBP announces the award of the concrete prototype contracts. Prototyping is an industry-tested approach to identify additional solutions when considering a new product or methodology. Through the construction of prototypes, CBP will partner with industry to identify the best means and methods to construct a border wall.

The prototypes will inform future design standards which will likely continue to evolve to meet the U.S. Border Patrol’s requirements. Through the prototyping process, CBP may identify new designs or influences for new designs that will expand the current border barrier toolkit that CBP could use to construct a border wall system. The border barrier toolkit is based on USBP’s requirements.

*  *  *

While no images of the selected designs have been released, we noted a number of them in April...

“As Pretty as the Parthenon”

RENDERING BY CRISIS RESOLUTION SECURITY SERVICES, INC.

WHO Crisis Resolution Security Services of Clarence, Ill., a global security management firm

DESIGN CRSS says the wall is meant to evoke famous walls in history, using crenellations, parapets and buttresses, and would be “as pretty as the Parthenon.” The wall would be built on a 30-foot-high dirt berm, graded to prevent vehicles from approaching. It also would follow existing interior roads and highways, which the company says would make it easier to transport materials and to maintain, while avoiding private-property issues. It would also create a wide zone in some places between the wall and the border. Bridges and gates would allow the inhabitants of that zone to cross.

* * *

Doubling as Nuclear Waste Facility

RENDERING BY CLAYTON INDUSTRIES

WHO Clayton Industries of Pittsburgh

DESIGN Owner Christian Clayton has proposed devising a wall that would carry electricity generated from municipal, medical and nuclear waste. “The wall is just a building block,” Mr. Clayton said. “Think of the wall as big conduit." Mr. Clayton declined to detail many specifics of his plan, which would involve plants to convert the waste into power. Spent nuclear fuel rods and other waste would be buried 100 feet deep in a buffer zone between the border and the wall.

* * *

At an Angle

RENDERING BY CHANLIN INC.

WHO Chanlin Inc., of Middle River, Minn., a steel-fabrication construction company

DESIGN Chanlin’s design for a concrete wall consists of using 10-foot-wide by 30-foot-high panels with embedded steel plates welded in a vertical position. To prevent climbing or scaling with a hook, the design would be tilted 30 degrees toward Mexico and include a smooth concrete finish with a steel cap plate. Steel bars would allow border patrol to be able to see through the fence.

* * *

Design Beyond Reach

DRAWINGS BY J.M. DESIGN STUDIO

WHO J.M. Design Studio of Pittsburgh, an all-women team of designers and artists

DESIGN In a submission meant to protest the project, J.M. Design Studio"s proposals are designed to “invite other realms of thought and consideration." One sketch shows nearly three million hammocks, for anyone’s use, strung across the border with 30-foot trees for support. Another one has a semicontinuous wall of nearly 10 million 30-foot-tall pipe organs, with openings every 20 feet allowing for people to pass through. Jennifer Meridian, a Pittsburgh artist involved in the submissions, called the actual border wall project "preposterous for so many reasons."

* * *

Memorial Wall

RENDERINGS BY REILLY CONSTRUCTION

WHO Reilly Construction and Croell Inc., both of Iowa

DESIGN This joint venture would use tilt-slab construction consisting of concrete with reinforced fibers that the company says would make the wall more durable and resistant to damage. The panels would be 30 feet high and 15 feet wide with a footing underground to prevent tunneling. The concrete material could be engraved, colored or etched to make it more aesthetically appealing or should there be an interest in establishing a memorial in some places.

* * *

Hadrian’s Wall

HADRIAN CONSTRUCTION

WHO Hadrian Construction Co. of Carlsbad, Calif.

DESIGN Company owner Rod Hadrian says his prefabricated product would make the wall cheaper and easier to install in remote border areas. The tridipanel wall system could be made to any thickness or color, and the diagonal pattern is meant to give the wall extra strength.

* * *

One-Way Visibility

RENDERING BY MICHAEL EVANGELISTA-YSASAGA, PENNA GROUP

WHO Penna Group of Fort Worth, Texas

DESIGN Penna Group’s proposal is for a double wire mesh fence that has a sheet of plexiglass lined with a one-way mirror allowing border patrol agents to see the Mexico side, but not the reverse. The fence would be 30 feet tall with a 6-foot footing, and both would be designed to sustain tampering by pickaxes, hammers, hand-tools, and torches for over an hour and a half. The double-lined, double-wire mesh design is often used in maximum-security prisons.

* * *

Perch

SAN DIEGO PROJECT MANAGEMENT, PSC

WHO San Diego Project Management, PSC, a full-service design-build organization

DESIGN This firm submitted a design for a wall similar to the ones used to protect medieval castles in Europe, according to the company. Most notably, the proposal includes a walkway on top called a “chemin de ronde” that allows for border agents to see Mexico through optical ports.

* * *

Camouflage

RENDERING BY CONCRETE CONTRACTORS INTERSTATE, SINGLE EAGLE INC.

WHO Single Eagle Inc. of Poway, Calif., a structural and decorative concrete specialist

DESIGN This proposal has a design option that could incorporate artistic representations of local cultures. The walls are built using a tilt-up method that is cast onsite and then put into position, making it easier to built the wall in remote areas.

* * *

Sensors

RENDERING BY DARKPULSE TECHNOLOGIES INC.

WHO DarkPulse Technologies, based in Arizona and New York

DESIGN Ballistic concrete is used, which the company says could withstand more than 12 hours of tampering. Using sensors, the wall and below-ground structure would notify border agents of the exact location of any tampering in real time. The wall would also include coating designed to prevent climbing and the use of grappling hooks.

* * *

Technology First

RENDERING BY VSCENARIO

WHO vScenario, a San Diego construction-technology company

DESIGN vScenario’s design would begin by using drones to develop a 3-D spatial model of the terrain. The proposed wall would feature cameras, volumetric microwave sensors and fiberoptics designed to detect intrusions.

* * *

Fitting In

WTC CONSTRUCTION

WHO WTC Construction

DESIGN This design aims to mimic a “rammed-Earth” construction style, which uses natural raw materials. The goal is a wall designed to look like an “extension of the surrounding landscape,” says the company. The system would include panels attached to reinforced concrete piers nested together to form a solid structure.

* * *

Mesh Fencing

RIVERDALE MILLS

WHO Riverdale Mills of Northbridge, Mass.

DESIGN A galvanized welded wire mesh called WireWall, which the company says is virtually impossible to climb or cut. The company’s fencing is in use along the U.S.-Mexico border in California, as seen above. The fencing could be up to 20 feet tall and could be installed to reach 6 feet below ground.

* * *

A Twist on Steel

HELIX STEEL

WHO Helix Steel, a unit of Pensmore Reinforcement Technologies, of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Leesburg, Va.

DESIGN Helix would mix concrete with its Twisted Steel Micro Rebar, a reinforcement designed to prevent cracking. The material is now used at some residential and commercial sites.

DHS Engineers Begin Work On Trump's "Physically Imposing" Yet "Aesthetically Pleasing" Border Wall

Having seemingly just been handed a stinging defeat on Obamacare, the Trump administration is desperate to deliver some "wins" for the people who voted him into office.  After all, he did promise voters "so much winning that you"ll get tired of winning."

As the New York Times points out today, one such win could come in the form of recent advances on the construction of that "physically imposing" yet "aesthetically pleasing" border wall that was a cornerstone of Trump"s campaign last year.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers has begun preliminary preparations for the construction of segments of a wall in several places along the border with Mexico, the Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday.

Engineers are drilling and taking soil samples to determine what type of barriers would be most effective in the different types of geography along the border, said David Lapan, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

The drilling and soil testing are taking place in El Paso; Santa Teresa, N.M.; Calexico, Calif.; San Diego; and the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Mr. Lapan said the testing has been completed in El Paso and Calexico. The agency has identified the San Diego area and the Rio Grande Valley as priority regions for new border walls.

The drilling and testing come as Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol, continues to evaluate dozens of proposals that have been submitted by vendors for designs for a border wall.  We reviewed a couple of the design proposals back in April and here are a couple of our favorites:

This first design, dubbed “As Pretty as the Parthenon," seems to have prioritized "aesthetically pleasing" over "physically imposing."

 

And then there is the following design that takes a very practical approach to the border wall which would double as a nuclear waste facility.

 

Meanwhile, one lady in Pennsylvania submitted a plan to install organ pipes across the border with missing sections to allow free passage across the border...somehow we suspect this design won"t make it to the prototype stage. 

Last week Trump provided a couple of new insight on the wall while traveling to France on Air Force One:

“You don’t need 2,000 miles of wall because you have a lot of natural barriers,” Mr. Trump said in a conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One last week. “You have mountains. You have some rivers that are violent and vicious. You have some areas that are so far away that you don’t really have people crossing. So you don’t need that. But you’ll need anywhere from 700 to 900 miles.”

Mr. Trump also said the wall would be partially transparent and could have solar panels to help offset the cost.

And then there is the issue of how to pay for the wall.  Trump has maintained all along that Mexico will ultimately pay for the border wall but that American taxpayers will front the bill so as not to delay construction.  As such, on Tuesday the House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill that included $1.6 billion for a wall. The bill would fund 74 miles of fencing along the southwest border.

In the interim, the Department of Homeland Security has moved $20 million from other programs to pay for the construction of several border wall prototypes. Construction of the prototypes for a border wall is set to begin this summer in the San Diego area.

Homeland Security officials said the prototypes would be added to the existing border walls in San Diego and would allow the agency to evaluate which barriers are most effective in giving Border Patrol agents time to respond to illegal drugs and human smuggling. Officials said they planned to build four to eight prototypes.

As for Mexico, at least one citizen remains adamant that his country will not pay for Trump"s wall.

Hungary Unveils New Electrified Border Wall, Watch Towers, And Guards With Machine Guns

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

The country of Hungary, 95% of whose citizens opposed European Union migrant quotas in a recent referendum, has reportedly electrified key portions of their border fence.

According to Index.hu, when approaching the border outside of authorized border crossings, those attempting to enter the country will be met with warning signs in Hungarian, Serbian and Arabic advising them that the fence has been electrified.

Kit Daniels reports:

It may not be a full fence shield, but there are fixed wires running parallel to the ground,” reported journalist András Földes. “The 12 wires mounted on insulated points are visible on both fences of the double fence, with insulated portions on the inside of the fences since it’s assumed they [the migrants] will only come from the outside if they come in.”

“…We also learned that a worker was shaken at the time of the installation and that he was hospitalized,” he added.

Though detractors of President Donald Trump’s border wall concept have been critical of the idea that a wall would actually stop illegal immigration through America’s porous southern border, the Hungarian wall has reportedly reduced illegal crossings into the country by a whopping 97%, with a significant change seen within the first 24 hours after it was installed.

The images below paint a very intimidating picture of what migrants attempting to cross the border will see.

Warning signs in multiple languages:

Guard towers:

And guards outfitted with fully automatic machine guns

Good luck getting through this:

(Images courtesy Index.hu; András Földes)

Who Will Really Pay? Mexico Plans Retaliation Over Trump's Border Wall But Ted Cruz Has A Cunning Plan

As President Trump appears to fold on his funding request for a border wall, though tweet-xclaiming "it will get built and help stop drugs, human trafficking etc.," a top Mexican official on Tuesday said that Mexico may consider charging a fee for Americans entering the country in what could be seen as a retaliation to President Trump"s posturing.

Trump has asked congress to include a down payment on the wall in the spending bill but because of scrutiny from both sides, the President announced Monday that he’d be willing to wait until September to revisit the issue of funding; however, his stance on Mexico’s role in paying for the wall hasn’t changed. And as Fox News reports, Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray, in a meeting with Mexico"s top legislators, called Trump"s plan an "unfriendly, hostile" act, and called on his colleagues to consider the entry fee.

"We could explore - not necessarily a visa, that could impede a lot of people from coming to Mexico - but we could perhaps (have) a fee associated with entry,” Videgaray said. “This is something that I"m sure will be part of our discussion, and I believe we can find points of agreement."

Videgaray went on to say that Mexico would not pay a cent towards the wall. He said if talks between the U.S. and Mexico fail to satisfy both countries, the Mexican government would consider reducing security cooperation. 

"If the negotiation on other themes — immigration, the border, trade — isn"t satisfactory to Mexico"s interests, we will have to review our existing cooperation," Videgaray said. "This would be especially in the security areas ... and that involves the national immigration agency, the federal police and of course, the armed forces."

So, trade deficits, tax plans, and budget decisions aside, who will really pay for the wall? American tourists via a transfer tax on entry to Mexico? Well Ted Cruz has an even more cunning plan. As RT reports, President Donald Trump’s much vaunted Mexican border wall could be built using the fortune of a notorious drug kingpin, according to Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who has proposed the ‘El Chapo Act’.

Cruz, a one time political rival to Trump, has backed the president’s desire to build a 1,000 mile-long (1600km) barrier between the US and Mexico.

Cruz has now gone a step further by proposing the so-called ‘El Chapo Act’, or the Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order, which would use any of the $14 billion being sought by the US government in a case against Mexican drug boss Joaquín Guzmán, to construct the barrier.

The US indictment alleges the 59-year-old, who was previously given a 20-year sentence in his homeland for murder and drug offences, led the violent Sinaloa Cartel and amassed “$14 billion from narcotics sales throughout the United States and Canada.”

“Fourteen billion dollars will go a long way toward building a wall that will keep Americans safe and hinder the illegal flow of drugs, weapons, and individuals across our southern border,” Cruz said in a statement.

“Ensuring the safety and security of Texans is one of my top priorities. We must also be mindful of the impact on the federal budget. By leveraging any criminally forfeited assets of El Chapo and his ilk, we can offset the wall’s cost and make meaningful progress toward achieving President Trump’s stated border security objectives.”

Now that is a border wall funding plan we suspect many could get behind.

Trump Administration Unveils First Step In Building Border Wall

In the first tangible step toward delivering on Trump"s campaign promise to halt unauthorized immigration from Mexico, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday released plans for picking vendors for President Donald Trump"s proposed border wall, issuing a preliminary request for proposals saying it plans to release a formal solicitation around March 6 “for the design and build of several prototype wall structures in the vicinity of the United States border with Mexico.” 

In a document on the federal government"s website for business opportunities, the CPB said it would release a request on or about March 6 asking companies for prototype ideas for a wall to be built near the U.S.-Mexican border. Vendors were asked to submit prototype concepts by March 10. After reviewing the ideas submitted by vendors, the agency will evaluate and select the best designs by March 20, then issue a request for proposals by March 24 in which vendors would be asked to price out the cost of building the proposed wall.

A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Reuters the solicitation published on Friday had "everything to do" with the wall that Trump has proposed. The spokesman said the initial request for information was to give industry the opportunity to tell the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, what is possible in constructing a border wall. "Once we get feedback from the vendors, we"ll look at the ones that are most feasible," the spokesman said. That would be followed by the request for proposals to firm up exactly how much constructing the wall would cost.

The document says multiple awards for the barrier are expected by mid-April as part of the process, an aggressive schedule for a government construction project. "It"s going to start soon. Way ahead of schedule, way ahead of schedule," Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal report seen by Reuters this month indicated the border wall would be a series of fences and walls that would cost as much as $21.6 billion to build and take more than three years to complete. The report’s estimated price tag is much higher than a $12 billion figure cited by Trump in his campaign and estimates as high as $15 billion from Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The plan laid out what it would take to seal the border in three phases of construction of fences and walls covering just over 1,250 miles (2,000 km) by the end of 2020. With 654 miles (1,046 km) of the border already fortified, the new construction would extend almost the length of the entire border.

Last month, Trump signed an executive order to begin preliminary steps toward building the wall. No cost estimates were included, and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has said his plan is to “secure our southern border with effective physical barriers, advanced technology, and strategic deployment of law enforcement personnel.”

According to Bloomberg, Konstantin Kakaes, an international security fellow with the New America Foundation, has estimated the cost of a 1,000-mile concrete wall 50 feet high, with 10 feet below ground, at $38 billion.

Bloomberg also notes that construction companies that have done work for the federal government and may respond to the preliminary request for proposals include: Bechtel Group Inc., which builds airports and nuclear power plants and has done almost $3 billion in work for the U.S. since the beginning of fiscal 2013; BL Harbert International Inc. ($2 billion); and Caddell Construction Co. ($1.9 billion).

Ironically, one of the biggest beneficiaries of Trump’s wall may be Mexico’s Cemex SAB, the largest cement maker in the Americas, Bloomberg News reported Jan. 25. It would be one of the best-positioned companies to profit because it has operations on both sides of the border.

Ron Paul Suggests A Better Solution Than Trump's Border Wall

Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

Just one week in office, President Trump is already following through on his pledge to address illegal immigration. His January 25th executive order called for the construction of a wall along the entire length of the US-Mexico border. While he is right to focus on the issue, there are several reasons why his proposed solution will unfortunately not lead us anywhere closer to solving the problem.

First, the wall will not work. Texas already started building a border fence about ten years ago. It divided people from their own property across the border, it deprived people of their land through the use of eminent domain, and in the end the problem of drug and human smuggling was not solved.

Second, the wall will be expensive. The wall is estimated to cost between 12 and 15 billion dollars. You can bet it will be more than that. President Trump has claimed that if the Mexican government doesn’t pay for it, he will impose a 20 percent duty on products imported from Mexico. Who will pay this tax? Ultimately, the American consumer, as the additional costs will be passed on. This will of course hurt the poorest Americans the most.

Third, building a wall ignores the real causes of illegal border crossings into the United States. Though President Trump is right to prioritize the problem of border security, he misses the point on how it can be done effectively and at an actual financial benefit to the country rather than a huge economic drain.

The solution to really addressing the problem of illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and the threat of cross-border terrorism is clear:

remove the welfare magnet that attracts so many to cross the border illegally, stop the 25 year US war in the Middle East, and end the drug war that incentivizes smugglers to cross the border.

The various taxpayer-funded programs that benefit illegal immigrants in the United States, such as direct financial transfers, medical benefits, food assistance, and education, cost an estimated $100 billion dollars per year. That is a significant burden on citizens and legal residents. The promise of free money, free food, free education, and free medical care if you cross the border illegally is a powerful incentive for people to do so. It especially makes no sense for the United States government to provide these services to those who are not in the US legally.

Likewise, the 40 year war on drugs has produced no benefit to the American people at a great cost. It is estimated that since President Nixon declared a war on drugs, the US has spent more than a trillion dollars to fight what is a losing battle. That is because just as with the welfare magnet, there is an enormous incentive to smuggle drugs into the United States.

We already know the effect that ending the war on drugs has on illegal smuggling: as more and more US states decriminalize marijuana for medical and recreational uses, marijuana smuggling from Mexico to the US has dropped by 50 percent from 2010.

Finally, the threat of terrorists crossing into the United States from Mexico must be taken seriously, however once again we must soberly consider why they may seek to do us harm. We have been dropping bombs on the Middle East since at least 1990. Last year President Obama dropped more than 26,000 bombs. Thousands of civilians have been killed in US drone attacks. The grand US plan to “remake” the Middle East has produced only misery, bloodshed, and terrorism. Ending this senseless intervention will go a long way toward removing the incentive to attack the United States.

I believe it is important for the United States to have secure borders, but unfortunately President Trump’s plan to build a wall will end up costing a fortune while ignoring the real problem of why people cross the borders illegally. They will keep coming as long as those incentives remain.

This Is What The US-Mexico Border Wall Actually Looks Like Right Now

Having signed an executive order to begin construction of the "great big wall" along the Mexican border, one which according to Congressional estimates will cost between $12 and $15 billion, some forget that even at this moment many parts of the border with Mexico are already covered in fences. In other spots, the wall is not made of bricks, but out of scanners, drones, and guards.

National Geographic photographer James Whitlow Delano has visited the border several times in the past decades as these walls have gone up. These are his photos and stories:

In the photo above, the border wall separates Jacumba, California, from Jacume, Mexico, in the high desert. Even after the first border barricade was built here in the mid-1990s to disrupt human and drug traffickers, residents of Jacume could cross freely into Jacumba to buy groceries or to work, and children would be brought across to go to school or to the health clinic. Since September 11, 2001, security has turned a ten-minute walk into a two-hour drive through the official border crossing in Tecate, segregating these communities from each other. After ten years, Jacume, a village of 600, was called "a black hole," where even Mexican federal agents had been held hostage for attempting to extort money from smugglers.

"A double border wall near San Diego blocks undocumented migrants from using the Tijuana River—located on the other side of the second fence—as a corridor into the U.S. In the 1980s, entire families would rush across the border, believing more of them would get through the gauntlet if the U.S. Border Patrol was overwhelmed. Here, in the 1980s, I watched waves of frightened Mexican families, young and old, run through, trying to evade Border Patrol agents and, at times, risking life and limb by crossing a busy freeway nearby. This wall put an end to the runs."

When I first visited this spot in San Diego, where the border meets the Pacific Ocean, in 1982, there was a single corrugated steel wall that ended at the top of the beach. Helicopters circled above, but it was still physically possible to walk straight into Mexico or vice-versa. At the very end of the wall, on the Tijuana side, someone had spray painted "sin fronteras" ("without borders"). Now the wall extends into the breaking waves.  

This lonely stretch of border is known for banditry. For all the talk of sealing the border, this valley about 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the Pacific Ocean has no wall at all. From the U.S. side, it"s forbidden to go any farther than the gate seen in the lower right, but the gate is the only physical barrier.

A parked U.S. Border Patrol vehicle looks out across the border wall at Tecate, Mexico, a city famous for Tecate and Carta Blanca beers. As is typical along the border, the city on the Mexico side pushes all the way to the wall, while the U.S. side is largely open country.

Yellow smoke rises from a brush fire south of the border wall in the Sonoran Desert, where California, Arizona, and Mexico meet. The increased surveillance near Tijuana and the coast pushed migrants eastward, where there were fewer U.S. Border Patrol agents.

The U.S. government filled in Smuggler"s Gulch with a structure resembling an earthen dam and built a triple-thickness border fence topped with razor wire, flood lights, remote sensors, and cameras to deter nighttime crossings.

For decades, traffickers would smuggle everything—cattle, people, moonshine, cocaine—through this canyon, making it one of the most treacherous places along the border. In the 1990s, Smuggler"s Gulch was a prime route for undocumented migrants attempting to enter the United States.

The Smuggler"s Gulch fence is part of a 60-million-dollar project to install triple fencing over the final 3.5 mile (5.6 kilometers) of fence between San Diego and Tijuana.

The border fence ends and is replaced by a barrier on a desert plain in the Imperial Valley, at the edge of the irrigated oasis farmland west of Calexico. Border patrols were completely absent here, as opposed to all other places I visited along the border. Elsewhere, Border Patrol agents regularly approached to determine my nationality and to ask why I was so close to the line. Here, there was nothing but solitude.

This wall separates Calexico, California from Mexicali, Mexico. As their names imply, the two are sister cities, and the wall was not always this big. In the 1980s, there was a rickety corrugated steel wall that didn"t even extend to the edge of the cities. But in 2008, when I visited again, U.S. crews were extending and reinforcing the barrier. Mexicali has a notorious reputation, but there were prosperous suburbs south of the city, complete with shopping malls and Starbucks.  

That said, Mexican cartel violence has been known to spill over the border because of the lucrative smuggling business. In April 2015, U.S. Border Patrol agents seized more than 69 pounds of methamphetamine coming over the border. In the process, they found how smugglers were getting around the wall between Calexico and Mexicali—they had built a tunnel.