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President Trump says without border wall ‘we’re not going to have a country’

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President Donald Trump got a firsthand look Tuesday at the massive border wall prototypes that he commissioned in San Diego for the “big, beautiful wall” he wants to build along the Southwest border, favoring a mixture of see-through capability topped with rounded concrete or steel to make it impassable by climbers.

“That wall, they can get over very easily,” Trump told a pool of reporters as he pointed to the existing fencing just yards away on Otay Mesa, patched in areas where crossers have made holes. “These walls,” he said, indicating the 30-foot tall prototypes towering over him, “they can’t.”

The president used his first trip to California as the nation’s leader to champion his plan for border security, insult the state for policies that are friendly to unauthorized immigrants and renew his call to Congress to fund a proposed $18 billion wall.

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The fervor over border issues — and the general controversy that surrounds Trump — mobilized hordes of supporters and critics throughout San Diego who either rallied along his motorcade route or gathered elsewhere to deliver impassioned speeches.

The turnout was mostly peaceful, save for shouted insults between opposing sides at the prototype site and a brief fracas over a Mexican flag that was torn and nearly burned. No arrests were reported.

Trump capped his three-hour, 20-minute San Diego trip with remarks to military personnel representing all five branches at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. He was welcomed with cheering and applause.

In his speech to the service members, he promised new military aircraft and pay raises, pledged to re-enter the space race — including a trip to Mars — lauded the successful fight against the Islamic State and reiterated his call for border security.

By 2:40 p.m. he was wheels-up to Los Angeles, where he was hosted at the Beverly Park home of Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-chairman Edward Glazer. The fundraiser, costing up to $250,000 a plate, raised money for his 2020 re-election and for other Republican National Committee accounts.

The relationship between Trump and California has become increasingly tense, and there was no indication of making friends on this trip. As he flew toward San Diego aboard Air Force One in the morning, he set the tone with a tweet denouncing the state’s so-called sanctuary policies.

He landed at 11:23 a.m. at Miramar, saluted and shook hands with four Marine officials dressed in fatigues — including Col. Jason Woodworth, commanding officer of MCAS — then boarded Marine One for a quick chopper ride to Brown Field Municipal Airport in Otay Mesa. From there, his motorcade drove to the main event: the wall prototypes.

Under the watchful eye of Secret Service agents and several Border Patrol agents — some on horseback and in cowboy hats — Trump walked along the stretch of life-sized wall models.

He was accompanied by several officials, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Acting Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost and Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. San Diego’s Chief Border Patrol Agent Rodney Scott led much of the tour and spoke about the enmasse crossings along the border in the 1990s before the existing fencing was erected.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, and his former congressman father were also there to greet the president.

Trump repeatedly called the existing fencing, made from old military landing mats, “inferior” and warned against the dangers of drugs that were “pouring through in California.”

“If you don’t have a wall system, we’re not going to have a country,” Trump said. “There’s a lot of problems in Mexico, they have the cartels. We’re fighting the cartels, we’re fighting them hard.”

Trump called for the models in an early executive order as part of his plan to erect a wall along the 2,000-mile Southwest border. They were built in September along a dusty section of land — some made of concrete, some of other materials — dwarfing the actual border fence.

The prototypes have been rigorously tested for climbing and breaching capabilities while also keeping Border Patrol safety in mind. Some thought Trump might pick a “winner” wall during his visit, but he didn’t go that far.

Even though Trump said he prefers the completely concrete versions of the wall, he said some “see-through” element is necessary. “You could be two feet from a criminal cartel and not even know they’re there,” he said.

He added later: “When we build we want to build the right thing.”

Even though the prototypes were built here, whatever version is selected likely won’t be built in California, but in Texas. Current projects slated for the California border have different designs.

Trump urged Congress to fund the wall “and prohibit grants to sanctuary jurisdictions that threaten the security of our country and the people of our country.” His administration has requested $18 billion that would build about 300 miles of new barrier where none exist and would replace older sections of fencing.

“It will save thousands and thousands of lives, save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars by reducing crime, drug flow, welfare fraud and burdens on schools and hospitals,” the president said.

But he also reiterated a threat to hold off on any new California border infrastructure projects until the whole wall is funded.

Security at the prototypes was predictably tight. Large trailers were brought in to form a makeshift barrier between the prototypes and the actual border fence. Across the fence in Tijuana, Mexican Federal Police kept a small group of protesters and journalists about 100 yards away from the dirt road paralleling the border.

The critics, including deported veterans and a few Americans who crossed for the day, hung banners on the southern side of the corrugated border fence and chanted “No muro” or “No wall.”

The scene was more lively on the U.S. side.

Lining Enrico Fermi Drive at the entrance to the prototype site, about 100 supporters and critics waved flags and banners, with many cheering as Trump’s motorcade passed. They were being carefully guarded, and were far outnumbered, by a heavy law enforcement contingent on foot in riot gear, in cars and on motorcycles.

The crowd decided to largely forgo a fenced-in dirt lot a few blocks away that the Sheriff’s Department had designated a temporary “free speech zone.”

Law enforcement kept supporters and critics on separate sides of the street to avoid clashes, although that did not stop people from both camps hurling insults across the aisle.

“Trump lost the popular vote,” shouted one critic.

“Guy with the Mexican flag, why aren’t you in Mexico?” shouted a Trump supporter. “You know where you are? You’re in the United States of America.”

When one side said “Love Trump,” the other said “Dump Trump.”

Then there was Randy Swan, who crossed over from the pro-Trump side to the anti-wall side. He wanted to talk to people instead of yell.

“The Bible says to love your neighbor as yourself. I may not agree with my neighbors here but I do love them,” he said.

Manny Aguilar, 57, an Army veteran, came from Los Angeles. He said spending tens of billions of dollars on a wall is wasteful and could be used for education or to help veterans.

“I’m here because I want Mr. Trump to know that not everyone from Mexico is a racist or criminal,” Aguilar said.

He added: “I’d like the money to be used for immigrants like myself. I’ve seen veterans die while waiting more than two years for treatment.”

William Stanhope, of Eastlake, came to protest Trump, period, especially the president’s stance on climate change and foreign relations policies.

“This is beyond the wall, it’s about everything about Donald Trump,” Stanhope said.

On the other side, Gary Jones brought along his 16-year-old daughter Jacqueline Jones to support Trump.

“I voted for him because he can’t be bought,” Jones said. “He’s cleaning the swamp from people who get into Congress, get out and get rich. He’s already rich.”

Jacqueline said she’s been called a racist for supporting Trump even though she is Latina.

“They get surprised when I say I’m Latina. I have a Muslim friend who supports Trump,” she said. “We’re breaking the stereotypes.”

Others rallied elsewhere, including dozens of Trump critics who gathered at the San Ysidro Port of Entry to welcome border crossers with signs such as “Immigrants they get the job done.”

Countering that message, about 300 to 400 Trump supporters assembled on an open lot at Bristow Court and Brittania Boulevard in Otay Mesa, near Brown Field, hoping the presidential motorcade would pass by them, but it did not. The boisterous San Diegans for Secure Borders crowd waved American flags and Trump flags anyway.

Their 90-minute rally included speakers who opposed sanctuary state policies and featured relatives of people killed by unauthorized immigrants.

About 400 to 500 people, including elected officials and interfaith leaders, gathered at Our Lady of Mount Carmel church in San Ysidro, where they urged protection of the state’s immigrant communities.

Other San Diego dignitaries weighed in on Trump’s visit from afar.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer welcomed Trump in a statement Tuesday morning, encouraging him to look at San Diego and its relationship with Mexico as a model of free trade and thriving cross-border economy. “He will see firsthand how a major American city benefits from having not just a modern border crossing but also a working relationship with Mexico,” Faulconer said. “San Diego is living proof that a healthy economy, low unemployment rate and strong international ties are not mutually exclusive.”

Bishop Robert McElroy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego focused on the plight of immigrants.

“It is a sad day for our country when we trade the majestic, hope-filled symbolism of the Statue of Liberty for an ineffective and grotesque wall which both displays and inflames the ethnic and cultural divisions that have long been the underside of our national history,” McElroy said in a statement. “Our faith is in the God who is the Father of us all, and who urges us to see Jesus himself in the immigrants and refugees who seek safety and freedom.”

Even Gov. Jerry Brown responded to Trump’s barbs that he was doing “a terrible job running the state of California.”

“Thanks for the shout-out, @realDonaldTrump. But bridges are still better than walls. And California remains the 6th largest economy in the world and the most prosperous state in America. #Facts,” Brown tweeted Tuesday.

The courts will be forced to settle some of the contentions between the two.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice sued California over a set of so-called “sanctuary state” laws that limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

And California is among a group suing the Department of Homeland Security over the government’s waiver of several environmental laws to speed along border wall projects in San Diego and Calexico — including the prototype construction. The government won a major round in that battle two weeks ago.

Union-Tribune staff writers Greg Moran, Gustavo Solis, Sandra Dibble, Peter Rowe and Kate Morrissey and The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis

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