Border wall advocates promote plan at Green Valley town hall

Alexis Egeland
Arizona Republic
Steve Bannon (left), former adviser to President Donald Trump, is joined by Brian Kolfage, founder of We Build the Wall, and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, during a public discussion of border issues in Green Valley in February 2019.

Nearly 400 people gathered Friday at Quail Creek Country Club in Green Valley, 45 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, to discuss a crowd-funded, privately-built border wall at a town hall hosted by the group We Build the Wall.

The event was headlined by a panel of three big-name advocates for the border wall: We Build the Wall founder Brian Kolfage, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

The crowd cheered any time President Donald Trump or his "Make America Great Again'' motto was mentioned, and booed at the mention of Democrats, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Stories were told of migrants strolling through the border without being stopped, as well as of people who live along the border leaving their doors unlocked when they go to the grocery store because, if their house is broken into, they would rather not have to pay for their doors or windows to be replaced.

But the room was not filled with individuals who lived along the border; it was filled only with members of the Quail Creek Republican Club.

READ MORE: With another government shutdown looming, Trump doubles down on border wall in State of the Union

This town hall was the first of its kind, Kolfage says, and it will not be the last.

“We really just want to get the community involved and circumvent the political stunts that the media puts out,” Kolfage said. “We want the people to hear it from us personally; we’re human beings who just want the best for our country.”

An hour into the event, a lone protester approached the stage and said he had a present for Bannon.

When security stopped the man from climbing onto the stage, he yelled that Bannon was a criminal, and the audience at the town hall was supporting criminal activity.

He was met with boos, yelling, and raised middle fingers as he was pushed out of the room by security.

But Bannon said that protesters are a good thing.

“That guy is the best spokesman for what we’re doing,” he said. “That shows we’re winning.”

Kolfage has launched an effort to use private funds to help build some of the wall. 

His project started about a week before Christmas when he started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the border wall.

However, GoFundMe officials said the more than $20 million raised by the page would have to be refunded, after Kolfage announced the money would be going to a non-profit set up for the purpose instead of the federal government.

The triple-amputee Air Force veteran claimed on the campaign page that he was tired of watching politicians play games, and decided the people could be more effective.

And after a 32-day government shutdown prompted by Trump's demand for border wall funding, the group is even more sure the people must take things into their own hands.

“Maybe the American people want it so badly that we’re willing to do it ourselves and get the job done if Congress stands in the way,” Kobach said. “They’re willing to put their money behind it because it’s so, so important.”

A part of the US-Mexico border wall, Fort Hancock, Texas, Jan. 14, 2019.

During the town hall, several people told stories of loved ones harmed by people who happened to be undocumented immigrants.

Mary Ann Mendoza lost her son Brandon in 2014 when he was driving home from his shift as a Mesa Police officer. He was hit by a wrong-way driver who was drunk and on drugs, and he was an undocumented immigrant with a criminal record.

Mendoza said the loss of her son put her face-to-face with the border security issue, and motivated her to join the fight against a crisis that she said has been created by politicians who refuse to get things done.

“I will make sure that my son will not have died in vain,” Mendoza said. “A wall may not keep everyone out, but no wall will keep no one out.”

Steve Ronnebeck’s son Grant was working as a clerk at a QuikTrip in Mesa when his store was robbed.

A man, who turned out to be an undocumented immigrant, walked in and dumped change on the counter before demanding a pack of cigarettes. When Grant said that he needed to count the change, the man shot him and stepped over his body to grab the cigarettes.

Ronnebeck said he joined We Build the Wall because the best way to build the wall is for citizens to take matters their own hands.

“Brian is succeeding where our politicians have failed,” Ronneback said.

Kolfage’s GoFundMe campaign had raised more than $20 million – an impressive amount, but just a small fraction of its $1 billion goal.

The original plan was to donate the money to the government, who would then put it toward the $5.7 billion Trump said he needs for his latest border wall plan. But that plan changed in mid-January, when it became apparent that the tendering the money to the government was not realistic.

READ MORE: What will $5 billion in border wall funding build? 215 miles of fence, feds say

Now, the funds are being directed to the nonprofit We Build the Wall, Inc., which claims to be working with contractors and engineers who already have government contracts to build along the border. That’s how they say they’ll be able to build the wall without the government.

But they don’t claim to be able to cover the whole border on their own; they are simply aiming to match whatever the federal government can do.

"As we add miles, it's like adding more Border Patrol agents," Kobach said.

He explained that the group has been talking to people who live along the border to make plans to build the wall on private property. We Build the Wall will use the money raised on GoFundMe to provide these border residents with the funds they need to build segments of the wall along the edge of their property, just like they’re building a fence.

“It's a very simple process,” Kolfage said  Friday. “It may have seemed complicated when the government was doing it, but it's very simple.”

But it may not be quite that simple here in Arizona.

“The issue with (Arizona) is that there are very few private landowners,” Kolfage explained. “A lot of the land is federal or state, so we can’t touch it.”

He claimed the group has a few private landowners in Arizona who have agreed to build on their land, but no further information can be made public yet. 

Kolfage explained in a tweet earlier this week that the group plans to modify the current wall design in a way that is more effective and  cost-efficient.

He said the most popular prototype at this point consists of a series of steel bollards with razor-sharp edges that will also point toward Mexico at a 10-degree angle to make climbing nearly impossible.

The group is inviting people to get involved in the process in a few different ways. Donations of $500 or more can get a donor their family name on a personalized piece of the wall, and people may volunteer to help with the physical labor of building the segments of the wall.