A new, half-mile long section of border wall sits at the corner where New Mexico, Texas and Mexico meet. This is the first crowdfunded border barrier, built with private donations on private land. The team behind it recently put on a show for reporters, saying this is just the beginning.
A cement mixer poured concrete onto the ground near the newly-built barrier. Construction workers in bright green and orange T-shirts stood at the ready with shovels, to smooth the new concrete into a road for border patrol vehicles.
“This is a project that was started by the American people who all believed in border security and who believe there is a crisis down here,” said Brian Kolfage. The Air Force veteran started a GoFundMe campaign last December and raised more than $20 million for Trump’s proposed border wall.
The original idea was to send that money directly to the federal government. But once Kolfage found out the money wouldn’t necessarily go to the wall, he decided to do it himself. He founded the nonprofit We Build The Wall and hired a construction company, Fisher Industries, to start building on private land.
“1,500 people from the Fisher Industries team stood up and was so proud and honored for We Build The Wall to give us a shot to do this,” said president Tommy Fisher. He’s pitching his company as the best contractor for other sections of the wall, on private or government land.
“We have the ability to build in the multi-billions and build miles and miles and miles,” he said.
Fisher isn’t the only one who sees this as just the beginning. Kris Kobach is former Secretary of State of Kansas and now legal counsel for We Build the Wall. He says the group’s already identified ten other potential sites.
“We’ve kept the locations secret and then once we start building of course we announce we are here,” he said.
Customs and Border Protection says they’re not a partner on this project, and that this stretch of land in New Mexico isn’t a high priority site. But Kobach claims his group’s been in close communication with officials. And once construction is done, in his words, they’ll hand over the keys to the car.
“I know for a fact that they are very eager to take control of this site and use it,” Kobach said.
We Build the Wall may have been in communication with border patrol, but when it comes to local government, that’s a different story.
Javier Perea is mayor of Sunland Park. He says the city learned at the very last minute that this wall project was in the works, and construction started before all the permits were in order.
“I mean this is an issue that was railroaded into the city of Sunland Park,” he said. “It takes time for us to review documents and ensure that everything’s in compliance.”
Sunland Park is small - fewer than 20,000 people - and has limited resources. The mayor says the city was already struggling to deal with permitting issues and then, when he ordered a temporary pause on construction, he and his staff were flooded with calls from wall supporters - and his family even received death threats.
Ultimately, Perea lifted the cease and desist order, and Fisher Industries got back to work, completing the wall.
Perea doesn’t believe the new structure will have much of an impact.
“The construction of this border wall I do not believe is going to accomplish what many people think it will,” he said. “What it will accomplish is that maybe it will funnel some people to different areas in the desert.”
He says half a mile of private wall is not the solution to the border crisis. But regardless, the wall is there now. And some residents of Sunland Park aren’t happy.
About 30 people gathered in a senior center, questioning how a project like this could get pushed through so quickly.
City Council Olga Nuñez organized the meeting.
“They’re frustrated,” she said. “They cannot get a permit expedited. They have to wait.”
Nuñez says the city betrayed its residents’ trust. She’s calling for an independent investigation into exactly what happened.
“It’s very important that this doesn’t happen to us again,” she said.
Kevin Bixby is with the Southwest Environmental Center, one of the groups challenging the Trump administration in court over its plans for a border wall. Recently, he was celebrating a victory. A federal judge temporarily blocked the administration from redirecting defense funds for border wall construction. Then he learned about the private border wall.
“A very well-resourced group of individuals swooped into town and basically overwhelmed the permitting process for Sunland Park,” he said. “And I can assume they could do that anywhere, in any small town in America, if they come in the dead of night and before the town knows what hit them there’s a border wall.”
Bixby says when it comes to private construction projects, fewer environmental laws apply.
“Certain laws like the National Environmental Policy Act only apply if there’s a federal connection to the project,” he said. “If there’s a federal permit that needs to be issued or if there’s federal funding or if it’s a federal agency that’s undertaking it. And that would appear not to be the case with the Sunland Park wall.”
But he says other environmental laws do apply on private property and wants to know if this new project violates any of those laws.
Sunland Park mayor Javier Perea says he’s still confirming if the group is following all city ordinances and state regulations. If it isn’t, the city could issue fines.
