President Donald J. Trump’s administration has made progress in following through with his plan to build a wall on the Mexico-U.S. border and has made requests to contractors. Many companies have already submitted their proposals.
Designs for the wall were due to the Department of Homeland Security by the end of March and were narrowed down to a few finalists April 4. After that date, prototypes will be built in San Diego County. Companies such as Granite Construction Inc., Vulcan Materials Co. and Martin Marrieta Materials Inc. are all companies that may potentially be involved with building the wall.
According to the San Diego-Union Tribune, one of the preliminary guidelines is that the wall needs to be 30 feet tall. In addition, the wall should be visually appealing from the U.S. side, while looking imposing from the Mexican side.
The Department of Homeland Security is accepting plans for concrete and non-concrete walls. The height and materials used will determine how much it will cost. Trump estimates the project will cost around $12 billion, although other estimates are much higher.
It is unclear how the wall will be funded. Trump has suggested budget cuts from certain programs so American taxpayers will help pay for the border wall. However, the president has also claimed Mexico will pay for the wall.
Lizette Padilla, senior kinesiology major, expressed her concerns over the building of the wall as a daughter of immigrants.
“We should be focusing our money on correcting poverty, funding the arts, education, things that actually matter,” Padilla said.
“It’s just really unfortunate. I understand they want to keep illegal immigrants out, but there are other ways to do that.”
The Mexico-U.S. border stretches approximately 2,000 miles and travels along four American states. Trump intends for this entire stretch to be included in the border wall plans.
Kaenan Husen, senior political science major, explained how he thought the wall could be beneficial.
“The wall is a useful tool for the administration to use to regulate immigration on the southern border,” Husen said. “The wall will encourage immigrants to come here legally, so they will have the proper documents and participate in society in a way that is easy to manage.”
