US President Donald Trump in his first trip to California as president, warned that there would be “bedlam” without the wall he wants to build on the border with Mexico, as he inspected several prototype barriers. The trip to the “Golden State” was largely upstaged by his own announcement that he had sacked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Trump repeated his insistence that law enforcement personnel should be able to see through the structure so that they could monitor criminal cartels on the Mexican side. He inspected full-scale models made of concrete and steel, erected side-by-side at Otay Mesa, an area in southern San Diego along the border with Tijuana, Mexico. Each prototype cost more than 300,000 dollar and, according to some estimates, the complete wall could carry a 20 billion dollar price tag.
Congress has yet to approve the funding amid skepticism and Democratic opposition, but an administration official said the wall would save far more money than it cost.
California has been at the forefront of resistance to the Republican leader’s anti-immigration agenda and at odds with his stance on a number of other issues, from gun control to marijuana and the environment.
