California takes a stand against border wall builders

LOS ANGELES: “If you want to work on Trump wall, then California will not work with you,” Ricardo Lara, a California state senator, has said on his official Twitter account.

As the border wall project proposed by US President Donald Trump is being carried out by federal agencies, local legislatures in California and Arizona are showing their determination to resist.

From Lara’s perspective, building the wall is a huge mistake and a waste of money and resources.

With companies bidding for the construction works being branded morally indefensible, Lara has proposed an amendment to a bill to prohibit the wall contractors from getting any future state projects.

The previous version of Bill 30 required California voter approval of any wall construction along the border. “We’re not going to allow a wall that harms our environment and our economy,” said Lara, a Democrat.

He said Mexicans spent a lot of money shopping in California, and Mexico was one of the largest export markets for California.

The proposed wall would hurt California’s economy, he said.

There is already about 1100km of fencing along the 3 380km border between Mexico and the US.

According to a report by the Department of Homeland Security, a border wall would cost a total of $21.6 billion (R287 billion) and would take threeand-a-half years to construct.

Border patrol spokesperson Ralph DeSio revealed last week that construction would take place in the Otay Mesa area, San Diego, but did not say the exact place.