The U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that San Diego County is the first spot where Trump’s border wall construction will begin.
Otay Mesa, which has two border crossings, is the community along the border that will be affected by the construction of the wall.
Eric Frost, the director of San Diego State University’s graduate program in homeland security, said that the Otay Mesa crossing is a good place to start for the construction because it is a ‘heavily trafficked’ area in comparison to other less populated sites like the desert.
Out of 450 designs already sent in from various companies, only 20 bidders will be chosen to start building models of what the wall will look like. The models will be 30 feet long and around 30 feet high.
Law enforcement is already preparing for opposition to the construction, but officials said that 1st Amendment rights will be taken account for and respected.
In a statement, Lt. Scott Wahl said, “As part of our community policing philosophy, we work closely with any party or group that wishes to express their views in a law-abiding manner.”
Trucks already use the Otay Mesa crossing and would be a good way to test out how well the fences and wall work, said Frost. He also believes that the wall should have “sensors and wireless technology” to better track trucks and make the process quicker and easier.
Although funding for the project has not been finalized yet, the construction of the models is set to begin sometime in the month of June.
See the full story on the LATIMES.COM and for the animals that could be affected by the building of the wall, see Vox.com.