Work begins on Trump’s border wall prototypes in San Diego

Crews broke ground Tuesday on eight border wall prototypes in a fenced-off area in Otay Mesa that is expected to be a construction zone for the next 30 days, U.S. officials confirmed.

Four of the prototypes will be made of concrete while the other four will be made of alternate materials. All of the models will be between 18 to 30 feet high and 30 feet long.

“We are committed to securing our border and that includes constructing border walls. Our multi-pronged strategy to ensure the safety and security of the American people includes barriers, infrastructure, technology and people,” Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement Tuesday. “Moving forward with the prototypes enables us to continue to incorporate all the tools necessary to secure our border.”

Access to the site was restricted Tuesday. San Diego police officers and county sheriff’s deputies were out in force at intersections and along streets.

Water tankers went in and out of the entrance to the building site, where work was already underway kicking up dust clouds, even with water dousing the dry and dusty location.

Authorities have been preparing the area for weeks, erecting chain-link fences, blocking road access with concrete barriers, installing security cameras and marking designated parking zones. Despite the preparations, authorities would not say when work would be starting, until now.

The site is about 1.5 miles east of Enrico Fermi Drive on open land that is a mixture of public and private ownership. It is several miles east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in a spot where the existing mesh secondary fence ends and a single barrier continues into the desert.

Police are anticipating protests. CBP officials said a free speech area for protests would be set up nearby, but the exact location was not confirmed by sheriff’s officials. The location identified by federal officials is a dusty, unshaded, weed-choked lot overlooking Otay Mesa and more than 1.5 miles away from construction.

There were no protests as work began in the early morning and no sign of protesters as the day went on.

But the high potential for demonstrations prompted the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to pass an ordinance to give the county the power to create special zones where knives, sticks, bats, pepper spray, bricks and other possible weapons are temporarily prohibited.

Davis and Moran write for the San Diego Union-Tribune.