In Sunland Park, N.M., stands the first-ever privately funded border wall, an 18-foot-high barrier of weathered steel bollards erected quickly and quietly on private property over Memorial Day weekend.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. — Nestled between the busy international port cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, near the intersection of two countries and three states, is Sunland Park, N.M.
Bannon, who serves as advisory board chairman for We Build the Wall, the nonprofit behind the crowdfunded construction effort, made the pilgrimage to Sunland Park late last month along with the group’s founder, Brian Kolfage, and a smattering of other supporters for a live-streamed, three-day-long fundraiser.
In both cases, construction commenced so quickly and unexpectedly that, by the time officials tried to assert authority over the situation, the projects were either complete or close to it. Attempts to retroactively reverse the process were short-lived, as city and federal officials capitulated under an onslaught of calls, emails and social media posts from thousands of We Build the Wall supporters, whose messages ranged from angry to racist to explicitly violent and threatening.
Kolfage, a decorated Air Force veteran who lives in Miramar, Fla.,launched a GoFundMe campaign in December with the improbablegoal of raising $1 billion to pay for President Trump’s border wall in lieu of congressional funding. Originally, the plan was to donate the crowdsourced cash directly to the federal government, but a few weeks in, after raising more than $20 million, Kolfage announced that the money would instead go directly to a nonprofit he had created to build the wall independently.
According to Kolfage, We Build the Wall had been pursuing a different piece of private land farther west in New Mexico when a Border Patrol agent told them about George Cudahy, an 85-year-old Air Force veteran and owner of the American Eagle Brick Co. in Sunland Park whose property was “overrun” with illegal activity from Mexico.
“We Build the Wall’s representing him and protecting him,” said Kolfage. He said the group agreed to pay Cudahy for the land on which the wall would be built, but declined to say how much. The estimated cost of the half-mile section of wall built by Kolfage’s group is$6 million to $8 million. “If the city says, ‘You're good to build,’ you're good to build,” said Kolfage, arguing that anyone who saw the operation that Friday would have realized that something much bigger than light poles was in the works.
Why does someone in Mexico operate the City of Sunland Park’s government Facebook page?! Who is working with the cartels here? Call them and ask. 589-7565@DustinStockton @Rambobiggs @sethweathers @DeplorableChoir @gehrig38 @RyanAFournier @gatewaypundit @TrumpStudents pic.twitter.com/QqKSMCsePawe planned on this to happen, we took steps to mitigate which is why the wall is done ✅ https://t.co/58KAqry5Xe@gatewaypundit @DRUDGE @brandondarby @sethweathers @RyanAFournier @DeplorableChoir pic.twitter.
“You always, unfortunately, will have outlaws in the world who do what they want to do regardless of what the law is,” she said. The city’s attempts at imposing retroactive accountability have been similarly dismissed. Days before the Wall-a-Thon, George Cudahy failed to show up at a scheduled court hearing in response to a criminal complaint the city had issued against him for building without a permit, the maximum penalty for which is a $500 fine.
“Our intention is to provide the IBWC and DHS with full and complete control of, and access to the retractable gate and seek your advice as to the procedures required to pass title and ownership of the fence and gate to the IBWC,” Kaye wrote. He included plans for the proposed additional fencing and gate.
According to a press release issued by the IBWC, We Build the Wall ignored the IBWC’s request for a different location for the gate. The IBWC is a fine example of over reach and growing to big. They are over stepping DHS, national security experts and undermining @realDonaldTrump as soon as they locked our gate open we noticed many other gates around el Paso just opened up!! They are planning for mass invasionThe IBWC commissioner @harkjay350 has a bad habit of leaving gates open on our border.
Shortly after speaking to Kolfage, Yahoo News received an email from Kuczmanski that read: “I was just informed the lawyers have been in daily contact with us and are being very cooperative. Please clarify this in any story.” “Let me tell you, they won’t let you plant a tree without getting a permit,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but we work with them.”
For Sunland Park City Council member Olga Nuñez, the park is where her family would celebrate Easter with relatives in Juarez who didn’t have a visa to cross the border. “Right now, it’s just a wall. After that? I don’t know,” said Perea. “Which law are we going to be OK with violating [next] to do what a specific group wants to do?”
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