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Hispanic-owned firm that received threats chosen to build prez's border wall prototype

Tracy Jan

By Tracy Jan The Washington Post

Published Sept. 8, 2017

Balaam and Dostoevsky

A Hispanic-owned firm whose workers have been threatened and harassed for security projects along the Mexico border was chosen Thursday to build a prototype for President Donald Trump's long-promised border wall.

The company was among four companies selected Thursday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to build the see-through prototypes. In addition to the Hispanic-owned KWR Construction of Sierra Vista, Arizona, the winners are: Caddell Construction of Montgomery, Alabama; ELTA North America of Annapolis Junction, Marland; and W. G. Yates & Sons Construction in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Each of the contracts is worth between $300,000 and $500,000. Caddell and Yates & Sons also won separate contracts to build concrete prototypes, the agency announced last week.

Al Anderson, the general manager of KWR Construction, which had helped build the existing border fence as well as associated roads and lighting, would not divulge design details of its prototype for the contentious border project. Under the contract terms, the firms had to use materials other than concrete.

"We want whatever jobs here along the border that we can get, and set aside our personal beliefs to support our employees," Anderson said in a previous interview with The Washington Post.

Trump this summer had repeatedly promoted a border wall made of solar panels, but the agency would not confirm Thursday whether it had selected such a design.

Construction on the prototypes is expected to begin in San Diego this fall although no money has been appropriated to pay for Trump's pet project and key campaign promise of building a wall spanning the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Congress has set aside only $20 million in the current budget to build the prototypes.

On Tuesday Trump, who campaigned on border security and the deportation of illegal immigrants, canceled an Obama-era program that had allowed 800,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children to live and work in this country without fear of deportation.

Trump said he is phasing out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to allow Congress six months to come up with a legislative solution. Some Congressional Republicans are expected to use DACA as a bargaining chip to fund the border wall, which Democrats firmly oppose .

Trump's 2018 budget calls for $2.6 billion for "high-priority tactical infrastructure and border security technology." Of that amount, $1.6 billion is for "bricks and mortar construction" and $1 billion is for infrastructure and technology, such as roads needed to access construction sites and surveillance equipment.

Trump had earlier threatened to shut down the government if a budget deal this month did not include funding for his wall, but pulled back on the threat las

t week. Opponents of the wall argue that it's unnecessary, given that nearly 700 miles of fencing already exists in the most critical areas of the border and the decrease in the number of border crossers.

Trump himself has acknowledged that a seamless wall would not be possible, nor practical, given natural barriers in the landscape as well as international treaty and flood-zone requirements.

The government in March asked for design submissions for two types of wall: a reinforced concrete barrier wall and one made of an alternative material with see-through capability. The wall must be insurmountable and "aesthetically pleasing in color," at least from the U.S. side, according to the design specifications. It must also withstand digging for at least six feet below the surface.

More than 200 companies responded with proposals. The contenders were winnowed down to a secret list of about 20 finalists.

Thursday's announcement follows last week's awarding of four contracts for concrete prototypes. The earlier winners were: Fisher Sand & Gravel/DBA Fisher Industries of Tempe, Arizona. and Texas Sterling Construction in Houston, along with Caddell and Yates & Sons.

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