12 Minnesota companies submit bids to build Trump's border wall

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - On the list of 732 companies that submitted proposals to build a prototype border wall called for by President Donald Trump are 12 Minnesota firms, according to records obtained by Fox 9.

Tuesday was the deadline to submit bids to the Department of Homeland Security “for the design and build of several prototype wall structures in the vicinity of the United States border with Mexico,” according to the original posting. 

The wall has to be 18-30 feet tall and go several feet underground, cannot be climbable and must be "aesthetically pleasing" from the U.S. side, leaving latitude for some bidders to get creative.

Some of the proposals include covering the wall with solar panels, creating tourist attractions and even creating a moat of nuclear waste, as well as many others. 

Most of the companies are looking for a piece of the potential billions of dollars the project is estimated to cost, as well as the publicity it would generate.

For some, however, that publicity is a double-edged sword, making it dangerous for workers who fear for their welfare if they secure the controversial contract.

"We've been getting a lot of angry calls including death threats," Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga, a government contractor on the border wall project, said. 

None of the 12 Minnesota companies that bid for the project were willing to go on the record with Fox 9 for fear of retaliation.

The very idea of a border wall was met with resistance by Congressional committee members Wednesday, pushing back against the idea that it would make Americans safer.

"The sooner we stop this, you know, "We're going to build a wall from sea to shining sea and Mexico's going to pay for it," Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, said. "It's embarrassing. It's not going to happen ... It appears the only person who won't say it out loud is the president of the United States."