BROWNSVILLE, Texas – As President Donald Trump keeps pushing for $5.7 billion for a border wall, there is a university along the Texas-Mexico border that already has one.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Brownsville Campus has a 10-foot-high fence on most of the property that sits along the Rio Grande River.
"For most of the classrooms, the wall is visible by the windows. You can see it. It's something I guess people are really used to," said UTRGV student Keyhla Rodriguez. "It's shocking how divided it is and noticeable it is, but, again, I don't feel unsafe."
Some students said they don't believe the border wall Trump wants will help.
"It's more money into that project being spent. I don't think it's going to do very much," Rodriguez said.
"I don't think it will do much of anything, just spend money. I mean, there's already enough security around," said UTRGV student Manuel Vettikunnel. "The thing is, even if you build a fence, there's still going to be holes in the wall where they have to patrol through, and yet again, they don't patrol a lot."
UTRGV campus Police Chief Raul Munguia said the school grounds are safe.
"Since UT System owns that part of the fence, we maintain the security there," Munguia said. "We keep the grass cut on both sides of the fence. We also have our security cameras there. We also recently added infrared cameras to see what's happening during the nighttime hours."
Munguia said campus police have extra patrols and work closely with the U.S. Border Patrol.
"They will call us if they see anyone that is headed towards the fence coming into our area. Vice versa. If we see them before they do, we will notify them," Munguia said.
Munguia said the southern boundary of the campus is patrolled a bit more frequently.
"It still happens from time to time. They (immigrants) will come across. Sometimes we catch some of them that have come over the fence, trying to bring over, usually, it's marijuana. And they will have their bundles, and it's just one or two people jumping over the fence and throwing their bags over and trying to get in," Munguia said.
He said campus police will detain the immigrants and notify Border Patrol, who will take the immigrants into custody.
"It falls in within our training, looking for suspects. It really doesn't do anything different other than the approach, the search. We have the equipment that we need," Munguia said.
Trump has pointed to the flow of drugs across the southern border as proof that a wall is needed.
If something happens in the future, Munguia said, his police force is prepared.
"It's a barrier they can get over a little more easier, but with the extra patrol and cameras and stuff, it's not like an every night occurrence," he said.