We Build the Wall plans to hold a rally today for the wall it is building in New Mexico to gather support against the city that is trying to shut them down.
Meanwhile, construction is halted while the builders work on the fight with the city, Kris Kobach, general counsel for We Build the Wall, was quoted as saying by The Washington Times.
Brian Kolfage, founder, of We Build the Wall, on Wednesday afternoon tweeted, “WE are having a MASSIVE wall rally tomorrow at We The Peoples Wall, in Sunland Park, WATCH HISTORY TAKE PLACE! We want all country loving patriots to get down here ASAP!
Contact @TheAmandaShea @DustinStockton if you plan to come.”
https://twitter.com/BrianKolfage/status/1133809031825547265
Registration for today’s 4 p.m. rally is here. The location is the headquarters of American Eagle Brick Company at 1000 Brickland Road in Sunland Park, New Mexico, which is about one mile north of the approximately three-quarters mile section of wall that was built in just five days on land the company owns. Another one-quarter mile section of the wall, which would have been almost completed by now, remains to be built after the City of Sunland Park’s Mayor Javier Perea, a 2016 Bernie Sanders, on Tuesday afternoon issued a cease-and-desist order on construction at the site, as Battleground State News and The Tennessee Star reported.
The city claimed We Build the Wall did not have a building permit and denied city officials access to the site. We Build the Wall strongly denied both charges.
In addition to Kolfage, the speakers will feature Sheriff David Clarke, Steve Bannon, Tom Tancredo, Gen. Robert Spalding and Angel Parents.
Also on Tuesday, the City Council passed a resolution announcing the week of June 3-7 as Amnesty Week.
Kolfage said the organization was ready for opposition and the only thing left to do in the section of wall that has been completed is to pave a road for the Border Patrol.
He tweeted, “@WeBuildtheWall planned for a battle, that’s why we finished the wall in 3 days when the corrupt city was partying over the holiday! Only thing left is to pave the road for border patrol! BOOM!”
https://twitter.com/BrianKolfage/status/1133698502243098624
One America News Network’s Neil McCabe was interviewed on Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am. McCabe is covering the story from the border.
The transcript and audio of the interview are available here.
Leahy asked McCabe to give Tennessee Star Report listeners the latest news on the efforts of the We Build The Wall team, which has put up about three-fourths of a mile of 18 foot high fencing on the southern border between New Mexico and Mexico in just five days, with another one-fourth of a mile left to close the gap between two existing 20 mile segments of existing border wall.
McCabe said that We Build the Wall did have the permits in process and verbal permission to proceed from by city inspectors, but the city caused a delay in issuing the final permit approvals.
Well today for One America News I will be reporting that the We Build the Wall has stopped working on that wall that’s filling a very critical gap between the Rio Grande River and the mountainside that is just on the New Mexico side of the Rio Grande River. So El Paso stops at the river. The city of El Paso stops at the river and then Sunland Park is the next town over in New Mexico and what happened is, We Build the Wall [went] to get all the proper permits and they filed their paperwork and they were told that the guy who how much this fee is is on vacation. So go ahead, you guys start. When that guy comes back from vacation we’ll give you a number and then you can just sort of pay, write the check and we’ll move on.
McCabe said We Build the Wall told him they planned to return to City Hall and would be ready to write the check but were prepared to defend their legal rights.
More of One America News’ reporting is available here.
Kolfage called the cease-and-desist order political intimidation, WGNO said. His group met with city officials about the permit Tuesday night.
The city ultimately thought the site plan “wasn’t good enough,” Kolfage said. “We are redoing that. It’s engineering for the layout of the land. It shows topography.
“What we really think it is, we think it’s a political issue. People are raising a fit about this. People don’t like that it’s happening,” he said. “That’s why we waited as long as we did to file the paperwork.”
Kolfage is not backing down from the fight.
On Wednesday he tweeted, “It’s pretty bad when our legal team has to educate Sunland Park mayor on his own city ordinances. They don’t even understand their own laws.
We’re about to embarrass them in from of the nation who is watching!”
https://twitter.com/BrianKolfage/status/1133693146628534272
The Trump Administration has his back, he said.
He tweeted, “The International Boundary and Water Commission received a call direct from the Trump administration last week authorizing our build- WE ARE IN FULL COMPLIANCE! #Winning”
https://twitter.com/BrianKolfage/status/1133696190514642944
In his press conference on Tuesday announcing the issuance of the cease and desist order, Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea said the next step would be taken in court. However, sources tell The Star that the local municipal court did not take up the matter on Wednesday, and it is unclear when it will address it.
Even as We Build the Wall fights the City of Sunland Park, it is seeing a surge in GoFundMe donations, which topped $23 million Wednesday.
Also according to the Washington Times story, American Eagle Brick, which owns the land where the wall is being built, has possessed the property since the 1880s – well before New Mexico was admitted as a state – which makes a difference in building the wall.
Mr. Kobach said because it was in private hands so early, it does not have a “Roosevelt Reservation,” which is a 60-foot easement running along much of the border that was put under federal jurisdiction by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907.
The We Build the Wall construction crews were not on site working Wednesday, and it is uncertain when they will return.
Sources tell The Star that the portion of the wall built so far has already had the effect of deterring illegal immigrants from crossing, as at least one truck was seen entering a parking lot on the Mexico side of the wall which had previously been a jumping off point for an easy border crossing, was seen turning around after being confronted by the reality of the new 18 foot wall put up by the We Build the Wall team.
The one-quarter mile section of the proposed wall yet to be built is on very hilly and rough terrain, which cannot be easily crossed.
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “Brian Kolfage” by Fox Business. Photos by Brian Kanof.
