Trump reviews border-wall prototypes in California swing
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A video shows workers on the U.S. side of the border in San Diego using containers to block the view of the border wall prototypes on March 12, 2018, ahead of Trump’s visit. Rafael Carranza/azcentral.com
SAN DIEGO — President Trump touched down in California on Tuesday, a deep-blue state that overwhelmingly voted for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and is being sued by his Justice Department over “sanctuary” immigration laws.
Trump landed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego and went to get his first up-close look at eight prototypes for a border wall, his signature campaign promise.
In his first trip to California as president, Trump examined the 30-foot wall segments near the U.S.-Mexico border before returning to the military installation to make remarks in a hanger decorated with American flags and housing a fighter plane.
Trump told the crowd there the wall “will save thousands and thousands of lives, save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars by reducing crime, drug flow, welfare fraud, and burdens on schools and hospitals. The wall will save hundreds of billions of dollars — many, many times what it’s going to cost.”
Trump also criticized California for its immigration policies, which “put the entire nation at risk. They’re the best friend of the criminal.”
March 12: Trump’s visit to see border wall prototypes will bring clash of cultures, protesters
Prepping the border for Trump
On Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spruced up the area around the structures in time for Trump’s photo opp with the prototypes. Workers added gravel to the dirt roads leading to the site to make it easier to reach, and around the prototypes to make it easier to walk among them. They also propped up metal shipping containers on the south side of the prototypes to block the view from the Mexican side of the border.
Mexican police announced they also would secure the area south of the border. They restricted access to the Mexican side of the prototypes for the duration of Trump’s visit, police said. Â
On Tuesday morning, Mexican federal police cordoned off approximately three blocks of the dirt road that runs along the existing border wall. Just behind the wall, which is painted with murals featuring pro-migrant and peaceful messages, the eight border wall prototypes tower, visible from the Tijuana side.
The neighborhood near this section of the border wall is industrial. About three dozen federal police were patrolling the area. Reporters from local and national outlets climbed onto roofs of homes and businesses to get a bird’s eye view of the prototypes.
The prototypes sit about 100 feet from the solid metal fencing that separates both countries.
USA TODAY Network special report: The Wall
On the Tijuana side, two men held up a sign that read, in Spanish, “Parks not walls.”
Daniel Watman said that instead of a wall, he envisioned an open park similar to the Peach Arch Park at the U.S. border with Canada in western Washington state.
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“The separation results in people not getting to know each other,†said Watman, a U.S. citizen who now lives in Tijuana.
On the U.S. side, even though the 30-foot structures tower over the containers, the boxes effectively block direct views of the ground north of the prototypes, where Trump was to observe them.
“We can, obviously, expect him to talk about the wall itself and how it looks,” said John J. “Jack” Pitney Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California. “What will be interesting is to hear how much he says about California. How much is he going to attack the state?”
March 11: 8 things to know about Trump’s relationship with California
Pitney joked that Trump “is making friends with North Korea and declaring war on California,” referring to Trump’s seeming openness to participating in a high-stake nuclear summit with the rogue nation.Â
“Immigration is the biggest substantive issue (of disagreement), but he has lots of problems with lots of the state’s politicians, including Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters,” Pitney said.
Waters, a Democratic congresswoman from Los Angeles, has called for Trump’s impeachment; in turn, Trump on two recent occasions has taken shots at Waters, insulting her IQ.
“Obviously, demonstrators will be kept far away but we’ll see how many of them turn out and how loud they are.”
Trump’s first visit to California met with opposition, support
The trip is Trump’s first to California as president and, given his seemingly irreconcilable differences with the state’s prevailing political culture, he is expected to be met by demonstrators. Several groups have already announced anti-Trump events, such as Nuevo Movimento’s protest march planned for Otay Mesa, Calif.
“The main message is to get it through Trump’s head that he’s not welcome in San Diego or California, period,†organizer Jenerai Del Castillo previously told the USA TODAY Network.
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The road less traveled: Trump to make first California trip after largely homebound first year
Near the border wall prototypes Tuesday, several Trump supporters gathered on a corner behind a police barricade, waiting for his arrival. As a car passed, a man shouted from the window: “USA, USA!”
Near the San Ysidro border crossing, a crowd of about 75 pro-migrant protesters chanted: “No hate, no fear. Immigrants are welcome here.”
Jules Luna, who lives in Westminster, Calif., in Orange County, wore a black beret, raised a fist and joined in the chants.
“I don’t really have any words to (the) absurdity of the building a wall,” said Luna. “It’s really just a monument to (Trump’s) ego and hatred and racism. It’s a senseless wall.”
Both rallies broke up shortly after Trump landed.
Trump clashes with California’s politicians
On Monday, the Trump administration pushed back against Pelosi for saying that immigration authorities “terrorize” families with “unjust and cruel raids.”Â
Thomas Homan, deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said ICE doesn’t arrest “innocent people.”
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Numerous rallies both for-and-against Donald Trump’s “big beautiful border wall” are expected to mark his first visit to California as president on Tuesday. About 250 people protested Trump in San Diego on Monday. (March 13)
AP
“Our ICE officers are protecting the immigrant community,” Homan said on a conference call. “You’re talking about law enforcement people that get up every day and leave the safety and security of their home, strap on a gun … to defend this nation.â€
Homan also complained that California law prohibits Immigration and Customs Enforcement from picking up people from state and local jails.
March 7: Sessions defends sanctuary cities lawsuit against California
“We should get access to all their criminals,” he said.
The Justice Department earlier this month sued California over three state “sanctuary state” statutes. The laws ban employers and law-enforcement officials from cooperating with federal immigration authorities and provide for a state review of federal immigration detention, which the Justice Department says amounts to California unlawfully trying “to regulate the federal government.”
California Gov. Jerry Brown responded to the U.S. lawsuit by accusing U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions of using “political stunts” to “further divide and polarize America.”
After speaking at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Trump is expected to headline a fundraiser in Beverly Hills to benefit “Trump Victory,” a joint fundraising committee benefiting his presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee.Â
March 7: Justice Department suing California over three ‘sanctuary state’ laws; Gov. Brown calls complaint ‘political stunts’
Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, Elliott Broidy, the deputy national finance chairman of the RNC, and Todd Ricketts, the RNC’s national finance chairman, are hosting the event.
In San Diego, the mood so far seemed focused on the shorter term. Hundreds of protesters, including dozens of community groups, marched through downtown San Diego on Monday evening to protest Trump’s plans to build the wall and his policies on immigration.
“This isn’t only an issue of the border wall, it’s also an issue of the shadow of the wall. And what it means is increased enforcement that this administration purports to include,” Pedro Rios, who heads the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium.Â
Contributing: Rebecca Plevin, The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun; Alan Gomez, USA TODAY; Dennis Wagner, The Arizona Republic. Plevin reported from Tijuana. Dan Nowicki and Rafael Carranza report for The Arizona Republic; Ian James reports for The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun. Follow Dan Nowicki, Rafael Carranza and Ian James on Twitter: @dannowicki, @RafaelCarranza and @TDSIanJames
Feb. 28: Oakland mayor doesn’t ‘regret’ tipping off immigrants ahead of ICE raids
Jan. 24: In speech to mayors, Trump says sanctuary cities are the ‘best friends of gangs and cartels’
Jan. 24: DOJ threatens ‘sanctuary cities’ with subpoenas, escalating Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign
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