Trump's border wall prototypes: All for nothing?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials will soon begin their evaluation of President Trump’s border wall prototypes with one major question looming over the process: What happens next?

The prototype development phase concluded Thursday, kicking off a 30-day period during which immigration officials will test the durability and scalability of eight units to determine which are most likely to prevent unauthorized immigrants from compromising the barrier and crossing illegally into the U.S.

Without congressional funding for border wall construction, multiple CBP officials told the Washington Examiner they will face a standstill as soon as their assessment of the prototypes is complete.

“What is happening in the Beltway, and with the funding, is beyond our control,” CBP Division Chief Mario Villarreal said in an interview at the agency’s San Diego headquarters earlier this month. “Our job is nothing less than to protect our nation’s borders and the people of this country, but what is occurring within the beltway, obviously we’re watching that.”

CBP spokesman Carlos Diaz told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday there is no way for the Department of Homeland Security to fund the border wall project without receiving the $1.6 billion administration officials previously asked for and have yet to receive.