Test by DHS of Steel Border Wall Sawed Through

Border Wall -- A report by NBC "Test of Steel Prototype Border Wall Sawed Through" Jan. 10, 2019, 7:54 AM EST / Updated Jan. 10, 2019, 8:00 AM EST
By Jacob Soboroff and Julia Ainsley

President Trump is visiting the border today. The following is information about the prototype walls.

NBC: Test of Steel Prototype Border Wall Sawed Through

The Trump administration directed the construction of eight steel and concrete prototype walls that were built in Otay Mesa, California, just across the border from Tijuana, Mexico. Trump inspected the prototypes in March 2018. He has now settled on a steel slat, or steel bollard, design for the proposed border barrier additions. Steel bollard fencing has been used under previous administrations.

However, testing by DHS in late 2017 showed all eight prototypes, including the steel slats, were vulnerable to breaching, according to an internal February 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Protection report.

“The (redacted) breaching technique was rescheduled to be last breaching technique on each mock-up, since the technique had the potential to impact the structural integrity of the entire mock-up,” the report states.

Engineers interviewed by KPBS said these sections of the report show that the mock-ups were at risk of collapsing due to the redacted breaching technique.

“It wasn’t intended on their part, but when they ran this test, they must have realized it was causing some kind of major damage to the mock-ups,” said Robert K. Dowell, associate professor of structural engineering at San Diego State University’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. “And they put it at the end because of that. They thought it was going to collapse.”

Photos of the breaches were not included in a version of the CBP report which was first reported by San Diego public broadcaster KPBS .