President Trump will visit San Diego on Tuesday to inspect the eight border wall prototypes that have been built, but the Department of Homeland Security agency tasked with overseeing the construction project says the media shouldn’t expect him to announce which of the prototypes will be used on the U.S.-Mexico border.
In November, a DHS spokesperson hinted there was a chance Trump, a former reality TV star, could announce the winner in a dramatic style.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Carlos Diaz told the Washington Examiner on Friday that will not be the case because the testing, evaluation, and assessment of the four concrete and four nonconcrete barriers is “still ongoing.” As a result, no decision on which models are best suited for various parts of the border has been made.
“We don’t foresee an announcement because those recommendations will be used to design the toolkit for [a] future wall,” Diaz said in an email Friday.
The testing and evaluation process started Nov. 26, 2017. CBP estimated it would take 30 to 60 days and expected it to end by late January. Six weeks have passed since that deadline, and no decision has been announced publicly.
“This is a rigorous process that included testing the prototypes, collecting data, interpreting the data and cross-checking that data with engineers, the U.S. Border Patrol, and other experts to decide what characteristics worked best during this process to then move forward with creating a toolkit of said characteristics and then recommend designs,” Diaz explained. “So while we originally expected the process to last 30-60 days, we are taking every step necessary to ensure that Border Patrol agents protecting the border have the best tools available to do their job.”
CBP also does not plan to pick one winner, but rather will take elements from each prototype and then create a whole new barrier based on what it learned through the testing and evaluation process.
“There will be variations of the physical wall. It’s not one type of wall. All the people in Border Patrol know that topography and geography, and one type of wall is not going to do it,” DHS Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke said Jan. 31 during a conference in San Antonio, Texas.
The prototypes are being considered based on their ability to prevent people from climbing them, breaching them, or digging under them. They are also being studied for how they are able to deter or block traffic and how agents are able to operate around them.
Earlier this year, CBP officials used jackhammers and saws to attempt to breach the prototypes as part of their tests.
