The US will resume construction of the border wall at San Diego park

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration agreed to lower part of a border wall in the southwest corner of the continental United States, advocates said Thursday, dismissing the concession as a token gesture.

Construction paused August was Friendship Park. It was established in 1971 by Pat Nixon, then first lady of the United States. The oceanfront park, located between San Diego and Tijuana, was a place where visitors could communicate and touch for many decades. But access to the U.S. has gradually decreased over the past 15-years.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection received public feedback and agreed to lower a 60-foot double wall (18.3m) that was about as long as a tractor-trailer. John Fanestil of Friends of Friendship Park. From 30 feet (9.1 metres), the height in this section will drop to 18 feet (5.5 m)

CBP did not answer questions about the revised design. But, said in a news release Tuesday that it “developed an approach that meets the border security needs of the area while also addressing feedback from the community.” It expects construction to resume early this year and take about six months to complete.

Fanestil stated that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had approved the changes at a news conference.

Chris Magnus, who was ousted After less than one year in the job, CBP Commissioner, November, put an end to Trump-era contract work, saying he wanted first to understand the concerns of the community.

The decision comes a week after Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador thanked President Joe Biden for building “not even one meter of border wall,” which is not entirely true. Trump constructed hundreds of miles. Biden, however, has only pursued small projects within Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and Yuma, Arizona.

Fanestil explained that San Diego’s project includes 0.3 mile of double layer wall. It currently rises 18ft. It will have a height of 0.3 miles and be constructed from tightly spaced steel bollards that are harder to see than the current material.

“The proposal to ‘dip’ the primary border wall to 18 feet for a small stretch near the center of Friendship Park is a token and inadequate gesture,” Friends of Friendship Park said in a statement.

CBP agreed to leave intact a policy to open an outer gate for up to 25 people from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Sundays, to allow them to communicate with Mexicans through a steel mesh barrier.