San Diego is identified as a “high priority” area for building President Trump’s border wall between Mexico and the U.S., says Department of Homeland Security documents that outline the cost and timeline of the construction.

Prototypes for the wall would be built about 100 feet from the border and about two miles east of the Otay Mesa border crossing in a location identified by the government as a top priority area, say Department of Homeland Security documents uploaded by Democratic staffers to a Senate committee website.

The report also shows Tucson, El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, which encompasses the cities of Weslaco, McAllen, Rio Grande City in the southern tip of Texas, as top priorities with an initial $20 million earmarked for prototypes, creation of wall design standards, levee wall and other barriers, and completion of an enforcement zone in San Diego.

An additional $3.6 billion will be requested for the 2017 and 2018 budget for more than 100 miles of wall, including replacing 28 miles of fencing in San Diego with a wall.


Contracts would be awarded by June 14, the first time a date has been specified, with prototype construction starting eight days later and completed by July 22. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said the timeline was accurate as of Monday afternoon, although the report is labeled “predecisional” and could change, especially if funding falls through.

RELATED: Before the wall there were border fencing projects — and not all of them turned out well

The locations were chosen because they are near urban areas and roads, meaning those crossing illegally can get away quickly, said the Homeland Security documents, posted online by staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Government Affairs. San Diego was chosen as a starting point because land there is already federally owned, the documents said.

1 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. US Border Patrol truck clearing tracks in the area. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. Close-up of the top of the fence. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. Looking west.. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. View through the fence. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. View of the area from the Tijuana side. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. View of the wall from the Tijuana side. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. Looking west.. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. CBP Field Operations truck passes by the area. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. A plant is near by the fence. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 10 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico April 19th, 2017: | The end of the second barrier inside the US/Mexico border wall at the East of Otay Mesa. Looking east to the hills. Man riding a bike on the dirt road. | Alejandro Tamayo © The San Diego Union Tribune 2017 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)


The proposed location to start building prototypes is a barren spot of land on the San Diego County side next to power lines and electrical infrastructure. It will be directly across from a mixed-use industrial and low-income residential area in East Tijuana, near the Nido de las Águilas neighborhood.

The spot is about 45 minutes from downtown San Diego in an area that is hard to access from the U.S. side. Viewing the area from the Mexican side, which has a few convenience stores nearby, is easier.

Prototypes for the border wall must be 30-feet high, unable to be climbed, prevent digging below the wall for at least 6 feet and be aesthetically pleasing on the American side.

RELATED: First lawsuit filed to block Trump border wall that would start in San Diego


Roughly 460 companies replied to requests for proposals to build the wall, including 23 in San Diego County. The federal government has already been sued by environmentalists over its plans and some companies that have bid on the wall have been subject to protests and even death threats.

State Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, have proposed legislation to punish border wall bidders, but some experts say their bills might violate the U.S. Constitution.

Lara has introduced Senate Bill 30 that would prevent the state from doing business with any company — or person — that works on the border wall. Gonzalez Fletcher has co-sponsored a bill, called the Resist the Wall Act, that would require California’s pension funds to divest from companies that work on the wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Some legal experts have said Lara’s proposed law could violate the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause, which prevents states from depriving citizens of equal protection under the law. Others have said it would violate the supremacy clause, which makes the Constitution the law of the land, and the commerce clause, which prohibits states from passing laws that burden interstate commerce.


As far as divesting, some experts have said that proposed law might have a better chance against a legal challenge, noting its use to protest various causes over the years. For example, the California Assembly voted in 1986 to dispose of stocks tied to companies that do business with South Africa because of its apartheid policies.

Lara has argued a wall would hurt California’s economy because of money Mexican shoppers spend here and goods the state exports to Mexico.

Lara’s bill will be heard Tuesday by the California Senate Committee on Governmental Organization.


Business

phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar


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