Construction began Friday just east of Border Field State Park to replace one of San Diego’s barriers along a 14-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Customs and Border Protection.

This is the third border construction project to begin this year. Similar projects to replace existing fencing in Calexico and in Santa Teresa, N.M., are already underway. Funded during the first year of the Trump administration, the San Diego project will replace Vietnam War landing mats that were put up in the 1990s.

Administration officials describe each of these new barriers as part of President Donald Trump’s promised “border wall.”

“Under this President’s leadership, we have a renewed commitment to secure our border,” said Ronald Vitiello, CBP’s Acting Deputy Commissioner. “The new primary wall-project represents an important milestone in our work to secure the international border. Not only does it significantly upgrade our existing infrastructure in San Diego, it also marks the third concurrent wall project in the U.S. and reflects CBP’s unwavering commitment to secure our borders and protect our nation.”


None of these projects look like any of the border wall prototypes that were unveiled in Otay Mesa last year. President Trump inspected them in March on a trip to San Diego.

In Calexico, two miles of old landing mats are being replaced by 30-foot bollards — posts set close together so that a person can’t pass between them but agents can see through them. The Santa Teresa version has an opaque steel plate at the top of its bollards that a Department of Homeland Security official explained is an anti-climb feature.

The San Diego project will be similar to the one in Santa Teresa — bollards with a steel plate at the top. The bollards in San Diego will be between 18 and 30 feet tall, and they will run from about a half mile in from the ocean to the base of Otay Mountain.

SLSCO, a Texas-based construction corporation, won a $147 million contract for the project.


There are currently two layers of fencing running along this part of the San Diego border. The older layer, which is being replaced, is called the primary fence. It’s between 8 and 10 feet tall and is closer to Tijuana.

The primary fence is opaque, meaning that agents cannot see if someone might be about to cross or attack them. (Border Patrol has cited attacks by large rocks as a major concern for agent safety, particularly when the fog rolls in from the ocean.)

In discussions about border wall requirements, agents have advocated for a see-through barricade.

The secondary fence, erected a little over a decade ago, is 18 feet tall and made of a steel mesh that can be more translucent. In some places, it has razor wire on top.


“The construction of this new substantial wall will improve overall border security, the safety and effectiveness of Border Patrol agents, the safety of the public, and will enhance the atmosphere for business and commerce in the area,” said Rodney Scott, chief of the San Diego sector.

Replacing the San Diego barrier is one of Border Patrol’s top priorities, according to a news release announcing the construction.

Agents along San Diego’s 60-mile border apprehended 26,086 illegal crossings in fiscal year 2017, CBP said, and seized 10,985 pounds of marijuana, 2,903 pounds of cocaine, 4,123 pounds of methamphetamine and 5,707 ounces of heroin.

“Although the existing wall was proven effective, the cross border threat has increased and the several decades of old corrugated steel landing mat is in need of replacement with a higher performing design,” CBP said in a statement announcing the new construction.


In fiscal year 2018 through the end of April, apprehensions have risen 33 percent from the previous year during the same time period, from 16,463 to 21,933 in the San Diego sector. (May data has not yet been published.)

However, over the past 18 years, apprehensions in the sector have fallen by 83 percent from 151,681 apprehensions in fiscal 2000, mirroring a border-wide trend.

President Trump said several times over Twitter and in meetings that wall construction in San Diego had already begun.

A project to replace San Diego’s secondary barrier was funded in fiscal 2018 but has not yet been scheduled.


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