Uniformed Officers Caught on Video Posing at Border Wall Prototypes
By Guadalupe Venegas, Llarisa Abreu and R. Stickney ••
NBC 7’s Llarisa Abreu spoke to San Diegans with differing opinions on whether the officers were being offensive.
Uniformed law enforcement posed for a photograph pretending to climb one of the border wall prototypes, their actions caught on video by a California college student on the Mexico side.
Three officers, who appear to be with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD), can be seen near one of the prototypes east of Otay Mesa Port of Entry soon after President Donald Trump's visit to the restricted area this week.
One officer puts his hands up on the wall and raises his foot while a second officer poses as if he's giving the officer a hand climbing up the wall. The third officer appears to be using a phone to capture the picture.
Jaciel Ortega, a student at Scripps College in Claremont, California was in Mexico on a school trip for her "US-Mexico Border" class.
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President Donald Trump reviews border wall prototypes, Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in San Diego.
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President Trump holds up a poster showing the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego in the 1990s (left), when people from Mexico could, in his words, "pour in." He said the building of even an unsophisticated wall at the border has greatly improved safety.
AP
President Donald Trump speaks during a tour as he reviews border wall prototypes, Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in San Diego.
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A man tears up a Mexican flag that was taken from a counter protester as supporters of President Donald Trump rally for the president during his visit to see the controversial border wall prototypes on March 13, 2018, in San Diego, California. The border visit was also his first visit to the state of California as president.
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Roberto Perez Garcia of Mexico participates in a rally against the border wall on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in Tijuana, Mexico. President Trump made a visit to the site of the border wall prototypes on the U.S. side, which can be seen from where the protesters gathered on the Mexico side.
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Dozens of San Diego police officers secure protest zones to prepare for a visit from President Donald Trump in Otay Mesa, California, on March 13, 2018.
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Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump rally for the president during his visit to see the controversial border wall prototypes on March 13, 2018, in San Diego, California.
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A protester holds up a sign during President Donald Trump's visit to the site of border wall prototypes, Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in San Diego, California.
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President Donald Trump's supporters rally for the president during his visit to see border wall prototypes on March 13, 2018 in San Diego, California.
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President Donald Trump's supporters sing the national anthem as they rally for the president during his visit to see border wall prototypes on March 13, 2018, in San Diego, California.
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President Donald Trump reviews border wall prototypes, Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in San Diego, California.
Kyusung Gong/AP
Lauren Rees holds up a sign before President Donald Trump's visit on March 13, 2018, to view border wall prototypes in San Diego, California. One group of protesters chanted, “No ban! No wall!” near the San Ysidro border crossing, where tens of thousands of people enter the U.S. daily from Tijuana, Mexico — many on their way to work or school in San Diego.
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President Donald Trump visits prototypes of his proposed border wall in Otay Mesa in San Diego, California, on March 13, 2018.
TELEMUNDO 20
President Donald Trump visits prototypes of his proposed border wall in Otay Mesa near San Diego, California, on March 13, 2018.
Telemundo 20
Signs opposing the president's border wall on the Mexico side of U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego on March 13, 2018.
Telemundo 20
A look at the U.S.-Mexico border from the Mexico side on March 13, 2018, ahead of President Donald Trump's visit.
Artie Ojeda/NBC 7 San Diego
A demonstrator stands near a road that leads to the site of prototypes of POTUS' proposed border wall in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego, California, March 13, 2018.
Artie Ojeda/NBC 7 San Diego
Supporters of President Trump gathered near a road that leads to the prototypes of the proposed border wall in Otay Mesa, San Diego, California, March 13, 2018.
Artie Ojeda/NBC 7 San Diego
Supporters and protestors of President Donald Trump gathered in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego, California, ahead of POTUS' visit, March 13, 2018.
NBC 7 San Diego
A protestor's sign in Otay Mesa in San Diego, California, on March 13, 2018.
NBC 7 San Diego
Demonstrators hold signs in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California, on March 13, 2018.
NBC 7 San Diego
Demonstrators hold signs to protest the president's proposed border wall in San Diego, California, March 13, 2018.
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President Donald Trump arrives to speak to service members at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in San Diego.
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"Your devotion fills our allies and our families with confidence. Your courage fills our enemies with dread," President Trump said to troops at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California, March 13, 2018.
NBC 7
President Trump waves after landing at Brown Field Municipal Airport in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California, March 13, 2018.
MCAS Miramar/Twitter
The Marine Corps Air Station Miramar tweeted this photo of President Donald Trump on March 13, 2018, in San Diego, California.
MCAS Miramar/Twitter
The Marine Corps Air Station Miramar tweeted this photo of President Donald Trump disembarking his plane on March 13, 2018.
MCAS Miramar/Twitter
The Marine Corps Air Station Miramar tweeted a photo of President Donald Trump's plane landing on March 13, 2018.
She told Telemundo 20 she was at the wall at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday after the president had toured the prototypes with federal and local law enforcement officers blocking the public's access to the area.
When she noticed the officers laughing and joking around, she began recording them, she said.
Ortega said the officers looked in her direction and appeared to notice they were being recorded but, she said, they didn't say anything to her.
She posted the video on Instagram shortly after taking it with a caption that read in part, "these are the officers that are on the streets terrorizing communities of color." In the two days it's been up users have commented on it nearly 200 times -- some calling it an offensive joke while others brush off the actions as harmless.
"That's just silly. I don't even know why people are talking about that," San Diegan Alex Woods told NBC 7. "It's people having fun at their jobs."
Local student Brandon Lumberas shares the opinion of several Instagram users who commented on Ortega's post that the photo opportunity was disgusting, ignorant and unacceptable, among other things.
"Some Mexicans, we do things right. So we have the visa, we have the other papers right. But some Mexicans don't do that because they have a money emergency, an economic emergency, so that's offensive for us," Lumberas said.
When NBC 7 reached out to the SDPD to get some information regarding the officers' actions and why they were in the restricted area near the prototypes, Officer Bill Hernandez said, "We were just made aware of this and [are] currently looking into the incident."
SDPD did not confirm that the officers are with the department.
A look at the visit to the prototypes built near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry south of San Diego.
