US government approves £7bn for Trump’s wall

The US government has approved $10bn (£7.6bn) in funding for building President Donald Trump’s wall on the Mexican border, one of his key campaign promises.

Contractors in San Diego are currently constructing eight prototype versions, made using different materials, and have given the media a first look at what the controversial wall may look like.

“Crews working on two of the eight prototypes moved dirt,” writes New Zealand news agency Stuff, “with one of the crews also installing steel reinforcing bars before concrete is poured”.

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The construction zone in California is currently fenced off from the general public.

The prototypes will reportedly be tested for the ability to withstand “sustained drilling with power tools” and to deter people attempting to cross the border with “anti-climbing features”.

Stuff adds that the wall must also be aesthetically pleasing from the American side.

The president says he will pick the winning design in a month, reports the BBC.

During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly told supporters that he would build a wall between the US and Mexico, insisting that Mexico would pay for it, something the Mexican government has refuted.

Trump initially claimed he could build a wall for $4 billion and later estimated $6 billion to $7 billion, according to PolitiFact. In April 2017, he put it at $10 billion or less. However, Senate Democrats estimated in April that a wall of this type would cost $70 billion to build and $150 million a year to maintain.

According to Vox, many congressional Republicans “don’t want to throw billions of dollars at something so expensive and untested as a border wall” — and that antipathy is making them resistant even to funding a few dozen miles of fencing, let alone a near 2,000 mile border wall.