SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump’s visit to California to view border wall prototypes (all times local):
5:45 p.m.
Tensions are high at a Southern California park where demonstrators for and against Donald Trump gathered near a fundraiser attended by the president.
A few hundred people rallied Tuesday evening in Beverly Hills, including anti-Trump protesters who hoisted signs that read “Treason,” ’’Impeach” and “Trump U R Fired.”
At one point a man wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat claimed he had been hit by a protester on the other side. Police stepped in to diffuse the situation.
Jennifer Medina says she attended the rally to speak out against Trump’s immigration policies. She was among a group of protesters who chanted “Say it now, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here.”
Trump is at a fundraiser at a Beverly Hills estate where guests paid up to $250,000 to attend.
4 p.m.
President Donald Trump is spending his evening in Southern California at a high-dollar fundraiser hosted by the co-chairman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Guests are paying up to $250,000 to attend the event held at the Beverly Hills home of Ed and Shari Glazer.
The money raised will go to a joint fundraising committee that benefits Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee.
Los Angeles is the second stop of Trump’s maiden visit Tuesday to the state as president. He spent the afternoon in San Diego touring prototypes for his stalled border wall.
The Los Angeles Police Department is warning about traffic snarls along the president’s route to Glazer’s home.
2:35 p.m.
President Donald Trump says there may someday be a “space force” fighting alongside the Air Force, Army and other branches of the military.
Trump was speaking Tuesday about his administration’s investments in space exploration to members of the military when he said that space is becoming a “war-fighting domain.”
He says his idea of a new space force had started as an off-the-cuff comment, but he decided it was a great idea.
Trump also says that “very soon we’re going to Mars,” and that that wouldn’t be happening if his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, had won.
Trump addressed Marines and other service members at an air base in San Diego after visiting his border wall prototypes.
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2:25 p.m.
President Donald Trump is telling U.S. troops that he’s overseeing a massive military buildup, praising soldiers for pushing themselves to “new heights of excellence.”
Trump said Tuesday at California’s Marine Corps Air Station Miramar that the nation’s military had been “asked to do more with less” for too long.
The president says he remains optimistic about a new U.S. effort to engage with North Korea. Trump says the U.S. is “prepared for anything” but believes “something positive will happen.” Trump has agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this spring.
Trump is also pointing to American efforts to lead in space. He predicts that “very soon we’re going to Mars” and adds that “you wouldn’t be going to Mars” if his opponent, Hillary Clinton, had won the 2016 election.
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1:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he has a “great relationship” with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Trump calls Pena Nieto a “wonderful guy” and says they’re trying to work things out. Trump adds: “We’ll see whether or not it happens.”
Relations between the U.S. and Mexico have been deeply strained since Trump took office vowing to build a Southern border wall to stop illegal immigration. Trump insisted during his campaign and throughout his presidency that Mexico will pay for the wall. Mexico insists it will not pay.
Trump visited Pena Nieto in Mexico during the 2016 campaign. But Pena Nieto twice has canceled plans to meet Trump at the White House because of Trump’s insistence that Mexico pay for the wall.
Trump commented Tuesday in San Diego after viewing prototypes for the border wall.
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1:10 p.m.
President Donald Trump is resuming his feud with the state of California, criticizing the governor, its immigrant protections and the state’s tax system.
The president said Tuesday during a tour of prototypes of his border wall that he has property in California, but the taxes are out of control.
Trump’s visit comes days after his Justice Department sued to block California laws designed to protect people living in the U.S. illegally. The president says the state’s sanctuary policies are putting the country at risk.
Trump also offered criticism of Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown. He says Brown is a “nice guy” but “has not done the job.” He says taxes in California “are double and triple what they should be.”
Trump lost the state to Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
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12:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump is inspecting prototypes on display in California for his stalled border wall.
Trump was briefed on eight towering prototypes Tuesday, including one with blue steel on top. He asked which of the models are the hardest to climb. He also said certain parts of California are desperate for a wall to break the flow of illegal immigration.
Said Trump: “If you didn’t have walls over here you wouldn’t even have a country.”
Trump also says that “they re-established law and order in San Diego” with a wall.
Eight 30-foot-tall (9-meter-tall) prototypes have been erected near the Mexican border to serve as models for the wall Trump wants to build.
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12:35 p.m.
The Senate’s top Democrat says he’s “not drawing red lines in the sand” against President Donald Trump’s long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as he negotiates with the White House and Republicans controlling Congress on a $1.3 trillion spending bill.
Sen. Chuck Schumer made the comments Tuesday as Trump traveled to San Diego to inspect prototypes of the wall.
Trump has requested $1.6 billion for wall construction in the catch-all measure, but that money would go for older designs.
Schumer says the wall would be “ineffectual and expensive,” but he didn’t take a hard line to kill wall funding as he did last spring.
Schumer and most other Senate Democrats voted for the wall last month, but only as part of failed legislation to protect young immigrants commonly known as “Dreamers.”
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12:30 p.m.
Dozens of pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators gathered on opposite sides of the street as President Donald Trump’s motorcade entered a restricted area to see prototypes of his proposed border wall with Mexico.
The two sides were separated Tuesday by a heavy presence of police officers in helmets and riot gear, but the protests were peaceful. Demonstrators on each side carried signs and shouted.
Several dozen people along the motorcade route took photos. One hoisted a Trump flag and others raised middle fingers.
Earlier, about 250 Trump supporters rallied near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing. About 100 Trump opponents gathered at San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing, the nation’s busiest.
Pro- and anti-Trump demonstrations were planned later in the day in Los Angeles for the president’s arrival there.
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12:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump is paying a visit to the prototypes that have been built on the outskirts of San Diego for his promised border wall.
The eight 30-foot-tall (9-meter-tall) models are supposed to be used to help design the wall Trump has promised to build along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Trump has long said he wanted to visit the models himself so he can pick a winner, though the Department of Homeland Security says elements of each design are expected to be used.
This isn’t Trump’s first trip to a border location.
In July 2015, Trump traveled to Laredo, Texas, just weeks after declaring his candidacy to see the border for himself.
San Diego is the largest city on the U.S.-Mexico border to formally oppose his plans, passing a resolution in 2017.
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11:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump has arrived in San Diego, where he’ll be touring the prototypes for his stalled border wall.
It’s his first visit to California as president.
Eight 30-foot-tall prototypes have been erected near the Mexican border to serve as models for the wall Trump wants to build.
The visit comes as Trump and his administration have voiced increasing anger at California’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Trump’s Justice Department last week sued the state over three of its immigration laws.
Trump will also be addressing Marines in San Diego before flying to Los Angeles for a high-dollar fundraiser.
He’ll be staying there overnight.
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10:20 a.m.
Several dozen protesters are demonstrating in San Diego outside the nation’s busiest border crossing against President Donald Trump and his plans to build more towering barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Demonstrators chanting “No ban! No wall!” are being cheered on Tuesday morning at the San Ysidro (ee-see-droh) port of entry by honking cars and buses.
Numerous rallies by groups for and against Trump are planned during his first visit to California as president. Trump will inspect eight prototypes for his future wall project before meeting Marines later in the day.
Many people walking into San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico, say they agree with the protest. Others say they understand why people want to secure the border more.
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10 a.m.
San Diego’s Republican mayor says President Donald Trump won’t get a full picture of the city during his brief visit to inspect prototypes of his proposed border wall with Mexico.
Kevin Faulconer says that if Trump stayed more than a few hours, he would see that a strong economy and free trade aren’t a contradiction but a way of life.
The mayor says a popular cross-border airport terminal connecting San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, shows that “building bridges has worked wonders.” The terminal is located a few miles from the wall prototypes.
He also says that San Diego police work to protect everyone regardless of immigration status, an apparent dig at Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement.
Faulconer’s remarks appeared in a commentary published in The San Diego Union-Tribune.
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9:20 a.m.
President Donald Trump says California’s policy of refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities is unconstitutional, dangerous and “MUST STOP!”
Trump tweeted Tuesday that “thousands of dangerous & violent criminal aliens are released as a result of sanctuary policies” and are “set free to prey on innocent Americans.”
The president tweeted from aboard Air Force One as it flew him to California for his first visit to the state as president. Trump is scheduled to visit eight prototypes for the massive wall he wants built along the U.S. border with Mexico. Protests for and against the wall are planned.
The trip comes as the Trump administration battles California over its refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
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9 a.m.
The scene is quiet along the U.S.-Mexico border south of San Diego, where protests are expected when President Donald Trump arrives. Trump will examine prototypes of the wall he wants to build between the two countries.
On the Mexican side, federal and state police are standing by Tuesday morning but there is no crowd.
Tractor-trailer rigs have been parked along the U.S. side, blocking the view from Mexico.
Trump is currently en route to San Diego from Washington, D.C.
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2 a.m.
Rallies for and against Donald Trump’s “big beautiful border wall” with Mexico are expected to mark his first visit to California as president amid growing tensions between his administration and the state over immigration enforcement.
On Tuesday, Trump will visit eight towering prototypes of his planned wall before addressing Marines in San Diego and attending a fundraiser in Beverly Hills.
Protests are also planned across the border in Tijuana, Mexico, when Trump visits the wall prototypes built along the international border to fulfill his signature campaign promise. Trump has insisted Mexico pay for the wall but Mexico has adamantly refused to consider the idea.
Trump’s visit comes just days after his Justice Department sued to block California laws designed to protect people living in the U.S. illegally.
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