Group trying to build Trump's wall ordered to stop after doing paperwork wrong

The city of Sunland Park, New Mexico, issued a cease-and-desist letter on Tuesday to stop a privately funded group from building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border after the group failed to obtain the proper permits, according to KTSM.

The construction company picked up an application but failed to fill it out completely. The intended 20-foot wall is also taller than allowed by city ordinances.

The city attempted to inspect the construction site last Thursday but was denied access, according to KTSM. The mayor issued the cease-and-desist letter prior to a Tuesday city council meeting.

The group behind the project, We Build the Wall, raised $20 million in private donations with help from Trump supporters including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). The group’s general counsel, Kris Kobach, is an anti-immigrant Trump ally with ties to white supremacists.

On Monday, Kobach gave some in the right-wing media a tour of the partially constructed wall, which from end to end measures a half-mile long. The project was scheduled to be completed on Wednesday, but that was before the city issued the cease-and-desist letter.

During the tour, Kobach bragged about how easy it was to build such a border wall.

“This shows collectively how we the people can say, ‘You know what? This isn’t rocket science. We can solve this problem,'” Kobach said.

Filling out permit applications is not rocket science, either. But Kobach has a long history of incompetent legal activity, including being humiliated by a judge, who had to tell Kobach “that’s not how trials are conducted” during a voter suppression trial in 2018.

Pro-immigrant advocates in the area are not happy about the rogue efforts of the group.

“It’s clear to us that construction of a portion of the wall in private property is nothing but a political stunt by white supremacists and xenophobic groups,” Fernando Garcia, executive director of the El Paso-based Border Network for Human Rights, told KTSM.

His sentiments were echoed by Adolfo Castro Rios, director of the Human Rights office in Juarez.

“These are individuals who are not trained to properly deal with immigrants and respect their lawful rights and who are often heavily armed,” he said. “We are concerned this is a situation that may lead to acts of violence against immigrants crossing into the United States without authorization.”

Kobach’s anti-immigrant malevolence was halted for the time being by monumental incompetence.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.