Each of the prototypes cost between $300,000 and $500,000 to build. Border patrol officials say it is likely to be months before they are tested with people trying to scale them, so it is possible big protests will occur.

But one of the San Diego area’s most vocal immigration activists, Enrique Morones, who created the group Border Angels, said that protesting “does more harm than good.”

“By doing that, it bring more attention to it,” he said.

It is still unclear when or whether Congress will approve funding for the wall, though the president insists it will get built. But for now, the eight walls of concrete jut out in the industrial section near the border with nothing surrounding them but an open field.