One of the companies tasked with building a wall prototype on the U.S.-Mexico border believes its concrete barrier would give the U.S. government a bigger bang for its buck compared to walls made out of steel.
“We’re one of the largest steel companies in the U.S. for manufacturing steel, and we absolutely would not build a prototype from steel because we do not want our name on that version 15 years from now if it’s wearing out and rusting out, and people are up in arms because you’re spending billions of dollars,” said Fisher Sand and Gravel Company President Tommy Fisher on Tuesday. “We want to be able to say we gave an A-plus infrastructure product, not a D-plus.”
The North Dakota-based construction company built a 30-inch thick and 32-foot tall concrete cast wall in San Diego, Calif., in the fall. Fisher said the barrier can last up to 150 years.
“You had to have a design that would withstand a physical breach with maybe some type of a hand tool or a hammer for four hours. And you needed to build something that couldn’t be scaleable. So that’s when we came up with only going with basically a concrete version cast in place,” he explained.
Fisher said the downside to the current steel bars that make up much of the current wall is that it blocks Border Patrol agents from being able to drive alongside and see if anyone is on the other side.
Fisher wants the Department of Homeland Security to take him up on a $30 billion offer in which he would oversee every aspect, including outside funding, for the continuous wall project.
President Trump issued a four-point framework on immigration reform last week that included a request for $25 billion in a trust that would fund the years-long wall construction.
Fisher was in Washington Tuesday after being invited to attend Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening as a guest of at-large North Dakota Rep. Kevin Kramer, a Republican. The Trump administration is expected to complete its prototype testing and evaluation process by next week.
