Trump administration contracted 4 US companies for Mexican Border Wall

The Trump administration on Thursday announced it has chosen four companies to build concrete prototypes of the president's much-touted border wall.

Construction of the prototypes, to take place in San Diego, is the first step in fulfilling Trump's campaign promise of building a "big, beautiful" wall stretching along the 2,000-mile Mexico border.

"Today we mark a significant milestone," said Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). "This is the first tangible result of the action planning that has gone on. This is the use of the resources we had available for this year."

Caddell Construction, Fisher Industries, Texas Sterling Construction, and W.G. Yates & Sons Construction, have each been charged with building a concrete wall that's 30-feet long and up to 30-feet high, NBC News reports. The DHS is also expected to commission four non-concrete wall prototypes.

The CBP has provided few details of the concrete prototypes and said funding for four other prototypes for a see-through structure will be awarded next week. The prototypes will cost a total of $3.6 million.

Trump promised in his election campaign last year to build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants. For the fiscal 2018 budget, the government has proposed $1.8 billion to begin building what could become a $20 billion project spanning the 3,200 km frontier.
But Congress is deeply split over the budget and worries are that it might not be able to bridge its differences and fund the government before the fiscal year begins on 1 October.

On Sunday, Trump insisted that Congress must find a way to pay for his promised border wall, branding Mexico a hotbed of violent crime.
And he has warned that he will close down the government if Congress does not give him funding for the wall.