Cease-and-desist order halts private border wall: ‘This is exactly why we kept it quiet!’

(Video screenshot)

“We Build the Wall,” the private group that began erecting a border wall along a section of the southern U.S. border in New Mexico over Memorial Day weekend, has run into a slight problem: Bureaucracy.

Launched by triple-amputee Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage and backed by former Trump administration adviser Steve Bannon and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the group allegedly failed to obtain the required permits from the city of Sunland Park before starting construction and has therefore been issued a cease-and-desist letter, according to reports.

“The city has not provided any permits, it has not approved of the construction that has gone up already. They built the structure without authority or any building permits from the city,” Sunland Park city spokesperson Peter Ibardo said to The Texas Tribune on Tuesday.

Speaking with local station KDBC on Tuesday, Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea added that the group is building the wall on private property but then admitted that the owner of the property submitted a permit application last Friday on behalf of “We Build the Wall.” He claimed however that the information provided in the application was incomplete.

“The staff has been reviewing those particular documents and have determined at this point it’s incomplete and the construction of the wall at this point is in violation of city ordinances,” he said:

Perea also claimed that city inspectors were denied access to the construction city on Thursday.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who only days earlier had traveled to Washington, D.C., to beg the Trump administration to pay for her to take care of the hordes of illegal aliens who’ve been flooding her state, also issued a statement Tuesday.

“A multi-faceted and strategic approach is required for establishing and enhancing border security as well as dealing with the humanitarian crisis on our southern border,” she said.

“No president, no federal administration has done enough on these fronts in recent decades, and certainly not in recent months. But to act as though throwing up a small section of wall on private land does anything to effectively secure our southern border from human- and drug-trafficking or address the humanitarian needs of the asylum seekers and local communities receiving them — that’s nonsense. It takes us farther away from where we all need to be.”

To be clear, the work that’s being done in Sunland Park is just the beginning. The group reportedly plans to continue using the money it’s raised to extend the wall further and further.

What’s unclear is why she’s chosen to involve herself in this local dispute, especially given the issues her state has been facing. During a visit to D.C., last week, she begged the Trump administration to reimburse communities in her state for the money they’ve expended taking care of the illegals aliens who were able to cross the unsecured southern border and set up shop in their communities.

She also complained about the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw U.S. Border Patrol agents from interior checkpoints along the southern border in New Mexico

“The governor wants to continue to urge the federal government to increase its personnel on the border as a means of improving the logistical and communications output,” a spokesperson with the governor’s office said to local station KOAT at the time.

HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE MISSING …

If illegal immigration is a concern for her — which is quite the surprise given the past positions she’s staked — then why is she complaining about “We Build the Wall?”

The group has for its part disputed all the allegations against it.

“We Build The Wall has done everything they need to do to be in compliance with all regulations,” the group said in a statement to local station KVIA.

“We’ve had members from Sunland Park city government out to inspect the site and to witness the first concrete pour. We believe this is a last ditch effort to intimidate us from completing this historic project by a local government with a long history of corruption problems.”

Kolfage, who launched the group in December, took to Twitter Tuesday evening to blast both Sunland Park officials and the New Mexico governor for “trying to flex”:

Because of the cease-and-desist letter, the work on the wall has reportedly come to a halt at the moment, with both sides reportedly preparing to take the issue to court.

Below is a video of what’s been built thus far:

HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE MISSING …

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Vivek Saxena

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