Donald Trump Wants 30-Foot High Wall at Mexico Border
The White House administration under President Donald Trump has released early guidelines for the Mexican border wall. Among other things, the wall is to be a 30-foot-high structure that is to look good from the American side of the wall and discouraging from the Mexican side of the border.
This is a first step for President Trump to bring about his campaign promise to build a "big, beautiful wall" between the United States and Mexico, according to a report by CNBC. The guidelines were released to the public last Friday by the Customs and Border Protection, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for overseeing the construction, and later on, the maintenance and staffing for the wall.
According to the contracting documents as reviewed by The Washington Times, the wall design should be of a prominent height. "The wall design shall be physically imposing in height," the Custom and Border Protection said in the request for bids.
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The agency said that their goal is a 30-foot high barrier that will run across the U.S.-Mexico border — the screening team will reject proposals that submits a design for the wall that's anything less than 18-feet high. In addition, the wall should also run at least six feet into the ground to deter attempts to tunnel underneath the wall in order to get to the other side.
The documents speak further about deterrence. According to the contracting papers, a design must take at least an hour, and ideally four hours or more, for a person or group attempting to breach the wall by puncturing a gap through it through a variety of means such as "sledgehammer, car jack, pick axe, chisel, battery operated impact tools, battery operated cutting tools, Oxy/acetylene torch or other similar hand-held tools," according to the document. The time should be deemed enough for wall patrols to discover potential intruders and chase them away, or call for reinforcements if needed.
The aesthetic appeal must be present too, but just for the side that faces the United States. The north-facing side of the wall must be tasteful, according to Fox News. The government will award a contract based on 30-foot-wide sample walls that will be built by candidate bidders in San Diego.
