Standing in the “no man’s land” between newly fortified primary and secondary border fencing in Otay Mesa, President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised the replacement barriers as “virtually impenetrable” and held them up as an example of the 400-plus miles of wall he wants to see spread along the rest of the southwest border.

“It’s an amazing project,” he said before gesturing to Tijuana a few hundred feet to the south. “There are thousands of people over there that had been trying to get in.”

It was the second time the president had visited this spot on the U.S.-Mexico border in 18 months and followed an April visit to the nearby border city of Calexico.

The brief tour was the last leg of a nearly six-hour visit in San Diego, which kicked off with a fund-raising luncheon at the US Grant Hotel downtown that was punctured by a sometimes raucous crowd of supporters and protesters outside.


At the border, with fencing panels piled high behind him, Trump described in enthusiastic detail the design and construction of the replacement barrier he has touted as his wall.

The fencing replaces lower and weaker Vietnam War-era landing mats lining the 14 miles between the Pacific Ocean and Otay Mountain, where difficult terrain is often enough to deter illegal crossings.

Only perhaps “one of the greatest pole vaulters in history” would be able to breach the new concrete-and-rebar-filled steel bollards topped with metal plates, he boasted. The complete stretch of primary fencing, at 18 feet high, was finished last month. The $147-million project had been approved under the Obama administration and funded and built under Trump.

Construction on parallel secondary fencing, 30 feet tall, is still about four months away from completion. He was invited by a crew member to sign a bollard, a tradition of those who worked on its construction.


Trump said he’d initially asked if the design could be done cheaper, but he said he listened to what Border Patrol agents asked for and ended up with the “Rolls-Royce version.”

“I hope you’re impressed,” he told gathered media.

In fact, the president said the improvements to border security are so impressive that he’s been approached by three other countries wanting to study it. He declined to state which countries.

The president said he hoped to expand the southwest border barrier up to 500 miles in high-traffic areas over the next year, which would cover about a fourth of the 2,000-mile stretch. He did not give specifics on funding.


Trump last visited the same area in March 2018 to inspect eight prototypes he’d commissioned for future wall-building projects. None of the prototypes was singularly chosen for a design, and the towering life-sized models were recently demolished.

He attributed a drop in Border Patrol apprehensions over the past few months partly to the Mexican government’s recent military assistance deterring crossings at its own southern border.

But he warned if that assistance were to disappear, he’d implement tariffs, as he’s previously threatened. “If Mexico stopped helping us, that would immediately be on the table ... and that would pay for the wall many times over,” Trump said.

In the San Diego Sector, apprehensions fell 43 percent — from 5,884 to 3,326 — from May to August, according to Border Patrol data released last week. While the summer months typically see similar slumps, Chief Patrol Agent Douglas Harrison said the Mexican assistance and the Trump administration’s new stricter immigration policies, including the “Remain in Mexico” program, have greatly stemmed the flow.


The border tour drew both praise and ire, as expected.

Christiana Purves, spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said Trump has delivered on his promises for a safer and more secure border, “and today’s visit showcases his dedication to a secure America and the decline of crime and drugs flowing into our country.”

Lillian Serrano, chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, called Trump’s expected appearance at the border “political opportunism at its worst.”

“Instead of meeting with Border Patrol and the rest of his deportation force, as well as the political insiders who benefit from caging people, he should listen to the voices from the region who are calling for an end to his harmful policies that threaten our binational character,” Serrano said.


Welcoming committee

Trump first landed at 11:18 a.m. at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Lined up in a place of honor on the tarmac was Poway Mayor Steve Vaus, who greeted the president while wearing his signature cowboy hat, and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who offered an outstretched hand still bandaged from wounds suffered in an anti-Semitic attack at his Chabad of Poway synagogue.

“It was kind of surreal,” Vaus said. “He looked me right in the eye, and said ‘I‘ve been watching and you’ve been doing a great job.’”

President Donald Trump is greeted by Poway Mayor Steve Vaus, and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, of Chabad of Poway, upon arriving MCAS Miramar for a San Diego visit. The rabbi was shot by a gunman who attacked the congregation in April. (Howard Lipin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)


Trump called both Vaus and Goldstein following the April 27 attack, and Goldstein was invited to the White House days later for the National Day of Prayer.

Vaus said he thanked Trump for his support with a mayor’s medallion.

“We give them to folks in the community who have really gone above and beyond the call of duty. I wanted him to have one of those, because he was with us in a critical time,” Vaus said. Trump said thank you and stuck it in his pocket.

The rabbi, in turn, expressed his deep gratitude for the president’s support, including ongoing discussions of ways to improve security at houses of worship, and Trump commented on “how beautifully the rabbi and his congregants have come together with the community and stayed strong,” Vaus said.


“(Trump) and the rabbi clearly have a very special relationship: two New Yorkers that just click,” the mayor observed.

After posing for a photo with the men, Trump spent about 10 minutes with a small crowd of military members staged behind a barrier nearby. He shook hands, signed hats — as well as someone’s copy of “The Art of War” — and smiled for cellphone photos.

Trump’s traveling companion for the day was Robert O’Brien, the State Department hostage negotiator just named as national security adviser.

“He’s worked with me for quite a while now on hostages. And we’ve got a tremendous track record with respect to hostages,” Trump told reporters at Los Angeles International Airport before the flight to San Diego.


He added that O’Brien has “brought a lot of people back home” without having to spend any money.

Raising money

Inside the US Grant, in an upstairs ballroom filled with about 400 supporters, Trump was cheered by an enthusiastic audience.

Upon his arrival, the president ticked off a litany of his accomplishments, mentioning tax reductions, improving employment prospects and immigration control. Trump peppered his talk with insults of Democratic presidential candidates, especially front-runners Elizabeth Warren and “Sleepy Joe” Biden.

He took an informal verbal poll of the audience asking if he should keep his campaign slogan: “Make America Great Again” or if he should change it to “Keep America Great.” The loud cheers clearly favored “Keep America Great” and Trump acknowledged that looked like the way to go.


“It was great energy,” said former Republican City Councilman Carl DeMaio, who is running for the 50th Congressional District seat. “The president has a lot of faithful supporters that want to give him the resources to get his message out to the American people that progress is indeed being made.”

The lunch, which was closed to the press, was expected to pull in $4 million for his re-election campaign. The money will go to Trump Victory, a joint fund-raising committee made up of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.

The event was Trump’s last in California this week as part of a $15 million fund-raising push. There was a lunch in the Bay Area and dinner in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, and a breakfast in Los Angeles earlier Wednesday morning.

Attendee Peter Farrell, board chairman of ResMed and Arcturus Therapeutics, said Trump was less than complimentary about California, singling out the refusal of many jurisdictions to enforce U.S. immigration policies by assuming sanctuary city status.


Luncheon guests were asked to arrive at 10:30 a.m., and security was described as similar to that at a TSA airport checkpoint. Guests’ mobile phones were sealed in secure pouches and returned to their owners who then had to get them unsealed as they left the event. Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle “warmed up” the crowd while they awaited Trump’s late arrival, Farrell said.

The audience included former Congressman Darrell Issa; John Franklin, who heads San Diego’s New Majority chapter; developers “Papa” Doug Manchester and Tom Sudberry; and prominent GOP supporters. Rabbi Goldstein was asked to stand for special recognition.

Not participating in any of the festivities was Mayor Kevin Faulconer. However, Trump did praise his efforts on homelessness during comments at the border, directing his jabs at Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“They are going to ruin their cities,” Trump said. “We are going to get involved very soon on a federal basis if they don’t clean up their act.”


Protest and support

Across the street at Horton Plaza, a crowd of some 200 supporters and protesters gathered, along with the massive “Baby Trump” balloon that has become a familiar sight at anti-Trump gatherings around the country.

“I am here because Donald Trump is not welcome in California,” said protest organizer William Johnson of the Backbone Campaign, who drove down from Palo Alto the previous night to help fly the balloon. “He ranges from childish, which the balloon shows, to downright evil.”

The scene was largely peaceful, although taunts were exchanged on both sides, with and without profanity. One Trump supporter was escorted out of the area by police after getting into a shouting match with Trump protesters.


Protesters came with a list of personal agendas — from the treatment of migrants in detention centers to the administration’s plans to revoke California’s authority to set auto mileage standards to sanctions against Iran. An “Impeach” sign was placed in a window across the street from the hotel.

“This is my one day off and I thought this was a good way to spend it,” said Robert Biddle, who lives near San Diego State University. “I’m here to protest for my grandkids and how bad he is making this country with the Supreme Court.”

Dangello Randolph, 23, is a barber on Seventh Street. “I’m here to get rid of Trump. I’m black and Mexican, and it’s hard being a minority with Trump building a wall and all,” Randolph said. “I don’t know much about politics, but I’m on Twitter and he is horrible on Twitter.”

Supporters, including one with a full-body cardboard cutout of Trump, sought to drown out the criticism. One wore a T-shirt of First Lady Melania Trump and a giant foam “Make America Great Again” hat.


They chanted, “Four more years” and “Trump 2020,” recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

San Diegan Carol Clark said she found out on television news last night that the president would be visiting and wanted to show support.

“California is an over-regulated state,” Clark said. “I’ve got family members looking to move.”

Another Trump supporter, Blake Marnell of San Diego, was seen on social media wearing a suit made to look like a brick wall, a nod to Trump’s border wall-building efforts.


A large turnout of anti-vaccine protesters at one point took over the chants of protest for about two minutes. They were met with boos from other protesters. “Don’t hijack the anti-Trump protest, you idiot,” one yelled.

Trump’s visit snarled traffic downtown nearly all day, beginning with the morning commute.

Staff writers Charles T. Clark, Abby Hamblin, Diane Bell, Andrew Dyer, Luke Garrett, Phillip Molnar, Deborah Sullivan-Brennan, Joshua Emerson Smith, Wendy Fry and Alexandra Mendoza contributed to this report.