Update: New Mexico City Allows Construction of Border Wall on Private Land

New border wall being constructed by We Build the Wall in the El Paso metropolitan area on May 24, 2019. (Courtesy of We Build the Wall, Inc.)

A New Mexico city issued permits to a company to build a section of border wall on private land, days after issuing a cease-and-desist order.

Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage’s nonprofit We Build the Wall Inc. and contractor Fisher Industries were erecting the bollard-style fencing in Sunland Park over the weekend but the city said its application wasn’t complete and issued the order.

After the order was issued, the city government was deluged with thousands of phone calls from supporters of the wall.

City Manager Julia Brown told the Associated Press on May 30 that the paperwork was completed and that permits were issued for the barrier.

Kolfage said in Twitter early Thursday that We Build the Wall “was given the green light yesterday afternoon by the city of Sunland Park to resume construction, and our permits were re-issued.”

“From the start We Build The Wall, Inc complied with all regulations as required by law as we stated,” he added.

He later shared pictures of the permit and the wall being built.

A project summary released by the nonprofit said the property owner was originally told by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that erecting a wall on their land was too difficult because of a mountainside, but the group and its contractor was still able to build the barrier. It said the area was part of the territory of the Jaurez cartel, which has been human and drug trafficking from Mexico into the United States.

The land is owned by American Eagle Brick Co.

Sunland Park officials told KTSM they'd be answering questions about the project at a 1 p.m. press conference. They had received thousands of calls from supporters.

“I got 800 calls on my answering machine in one hour. They’re all calling from out of state. They are in favor of the wall,” said one Sunland Park city official who declined to be named.

The CEO of Arizona-based Fisher Industries said that he was proud to be working on the wall.

“They would just come over, and you can see the pathways from Mexico where the drugs would run and everything else,” Tommy Fisher told 3 TV. “It makes me feel very very proud, as well as just the effort that all the employees of the Fisher Industries family have put in to do this amount of work in ten days.”

Fisher said his company had placed a bid with the federal government to build 234 miles of border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border but that the Army Corps of Engineers was chosen to erect the wall.

Still, the company is now engaged with We Build the Wall, which said it was going to build additional sections on private property.

“I think it’s going to be very effective,“ Fisher said. ”I’ve heard from multiple border agents. They just can’t believe it.”

From NTD News