San Diego residents have thrown footwear at television images of US President Donald Trump as he used his State of the Union speech to demand a wall to defend a "dangerous southern border".
Along the US-Mexico line, the crowd at the Republican headquarters in Tucson, Arizona, cheered and one man yelled "yeah!" as Trump promised a wall would make "illegal crossings go way, way down".
And in El Paso, Texas, Trump appeared to anger much of the city after he said it was one of the most dangerous in the country - before a border wall was built in 2008.
Blaming illegal immigrants for ills ranging from overcrowded US hospitals to working-class job losses, Trump renewed his call for funding for a border wall, and dug deep into divisions in US-Mexico border communities.
El Paso horse trainer John Joyner was one of those who backed Trump.
"When they built a wall, El Paso became one of the safer cities," Joyner, 64, said at a "watch party" held by local Republicans.
"We were able to figure who was coming through our ports of entry."
Trump used about 17 minutes of a speech that ran one hour and 22 minutes to hammer against the "lawless state" of the border.
He argued that a wall could stop crime ranging from sex trafficking to gang violence.
He said "large organised caravans" were "on the march to the United States" and troops were needed to stop them.
Pima County Republican Party Vice Chairman Chris King said he supported a wall.
"I've been out to the border, I've seen it, there are places where anything can get through," he said.
San Diego high school teacher Stacy Salazar, whose students are primarily Hispanic and low-income, was appalled that Trump wanted to spend billions on walls when her school could not afford basic supplies.
She was among around 50 people at "Noche de Chanclazos" or flip-flop night.
It was an event put on at an arts centre for San Diegans to let off steam by hurling footwear at Trump's television image projected on a wall as he spoke.
"People can find a way round the wall, it's just a big waste of money," Salazar said.
In his speech, Trump suggested "compromise" and said he would be prepared to only build a wall in areas where the US Border Patrol saw it necessary - a far cry from his 2016 campaign pledge for one from coast to coast.
The Reverend Robin Hoover, the head of Migrant Status Inc, who has spent 33 years working on border issues, blasted Trump's speech.
"The biggest lie is that building the wall will dismantle the cartels," he said.
"Border enforcement means anyone who wants to smuggle drugs or get through the border have to use the cartels to be successful."
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