Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga is a Mexican American living in Fort Worth, Texas. His grandparents immigrated to the United States, undocumented, in the 1930s. For the past 10 years, he has lectured on immigration reform across the U.S., including at the Fort Worth Rotary Club. And now, hes leading the Latino-owned U.S. military and government contracting firm PennaGroup in creating and submitting a design proposal for President Donald Trump s controversial proposed border wall.

I will build a great wall, Trump declared in June 2015 , while announcing his candidacy for president. And nobody builds walls better than me, believe me. At the time, the statement seemed to many like an absurd proclamation that, especially coming from a former reality TV star, would likely never actually come to fruition.

For PennaGroup CEO Evangelista-Ysasaga, Trumps vision for a border wall felt less like a vague possibility than an inevitable reality after his election. Were a Latino-owned firm, he told The Huffington Post in an interview, specifying that about 80 percent of his workers are Mexican-American, the descendants of immigrants. We had to do a lot of soul-searching when all of this was first happening.

In response to a solicitation issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in March, various contracting firms began proposing bids for the 1,000-mile, $21 billion wall project . CBP outlined the requirements for effective wall proposals in a contract issued on its website, with a March 29 deadline. Ideally, it explained, the wall should measure 30 feet in height, though designs as low as 18 feet may be acceptable. The wall should be impossible to climb over or tunnel under, able to withstand continuous attack by sledgehammer, car jack, pick axe, chisel, battery operated impact tools, battery operated cutting tools, Oxy/acetylene torch or other similar hand-held tools.

And of course, it should be visually appealing at least on the northern side, facing the U.S.

According to Evangelista-Ysasaga, word of the various design ideas sparked by the contract travelled fast. The defense contracting community is very small, he explained. And we were hearing some very disturbing design options, some of which would be lethal for those who tried to cross. There was talk of electrified fences, razor wire that stuff is just horrific. Peoples hair and clothing get caught in it. If youre trying to cross in the middle of the night and get caught in that stuff, its a disaster.