The Mexico Border Wall was a promise that President Donald Trump had made during his presidential campaign, and the initial stage is over with the construction of the prototypes. The wall would prevent entry of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. The prototypes will now have to go through endurance testing that will include withstanding blows of sledgehammers, and pickaxes apart from their ability to withstand fires. They should also be able to remain intact when power tools like electric drills are used.
As per schedule, the testing will is expected to go on for two months so that officials can assess the effectiveness of each, and explore possibilities of merging designs to create the best wall.
This has been revealed by Ronald Vitiello, the acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The line of action
Daily Mail UK reports that the results of endurance testing will form the base to proceed with the construction of the Mexico border wall. The testing activities will commence after another month to give sufficient time for the concrete to set properly. During this waiting period, the authorities will try to check out different aspects relating to its robustness.
There is already a wall existing between America and Mexico. It consists of fences of single-layer, double-layer, and triple-layer along the nearly 2,000-mile border. However, there are gaps in the fencing.
Some of these are natural ones due to the topography that consists of water bodies, mountains, and jungles. Unauthorized persons exploit these gaps to enter the US.
The prototypes that have been built are nearly 30 feet high which is higher than the existing walls. Donald Trump had indicated that Mexico would pay for the wall but, that may not happen.
Congress will have to sanction necessary funds that could run into billions.
Will the wall serve the purpose?
The design of the prototypes have variety. There are concrete ones which are not the see-through types. Security features have been introduced by installing round tubes on the top. It is believed that this design will not permit the use of grappling hooks to scale the wall to gain unauthorized entry into the United States.
The specification demands that the wall be 'aesthetically pleasing' from the American side. This has been achieved by using colors. President Donald Trump had wanted solar panels to be a part of the wall, but that has yet to be incorporated in the prototypes.
For a start, the Mexico border wall is expected to come up in the corridor most popular for illegal crossings. This has been identified as a 14-mile stretch San Diego apart from another 60-mile stretch in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
