President Trump viewed border wall prototypes in California Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Eight 30-foot mockups stood ready for his perusal, some made with solid concrete while others were constructed with steel. The president took one look at the prototypes and realized what would make them really useful.<\/p>\n
The wall needed to be see-through.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could be two feet away from a criminal cartel and you don\u2019t know they\u2019re there,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s visit marks the first time that the president has visited California since he was elected. The whirlwind trip highlighted Trump\u2019s triumphs, like his decision to beef up the presence of immigration officers in the state, and ignored everything else.<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Times thinks that Trump should have spent more time with his critics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe president did not mix with ordinary residents, let alone the many protesters at his San Diego and Los Angeles stops. He spoke to senior Border Patrol officials while inspecting the wall prototypes for about an hour, addressed service members at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and, finally, mingled with deep-pocketed donors at a $5-million campaign fundraiser\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, he spent his time wisely. The purpose of the trip was to view the border wall prototypes, not to placate unhappy liberals. The purpose of the wall is to benefit “ordinary” residents.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration predicts that the wall will cost $18 billion to erect.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of problems in Mexico \u2014 they have a lot of problems over there,” Trump said. “The fact is, if you don’t have a wall system it would be bedlam, I imagine.”<\/p>\n
Liberals are more focused on the effects the wall will have on the illegal immigrants trying to enter the country.<\/p>\n
“The wall is more than a wall,” immigration advocate Andrea Guerrero told NPR’s Richard Gonzales. “In the shadow of that wall, a deportation force is growing and it is ripping families from one another. It is devastating communities well within the interior of the United States.”<\/p>\n