Javier Perea, mayor of Sunland Park, New Mexico, is forcing private landowners to halt construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, alleging the project lacked the proper government approvals.
Sunland Park issued a cease-and-desist letter Tuesday to halt the construction of a large border wall on private property owned by the American Eagle Brick Co. outside of El Paso, near the University of Texas at El Paso, the Texas Tribune reports.
BREAKING: Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea says they’ve issued a cease and desist to the company behind the private border wall built this weekend. pic.twitter.com/nfarPIO343
— Keenan Willard (@KeenanKFOX_CBS) May 28, 2019
The $6 million to $8 million project began late Friday, continued through the Memorial Day weekend, and was expected to be completed later this week. The private project is funded through a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $20 million for We Build the Wall, a nonprofit working with Border Patrol to erect barriers in high traffic areas along the border.
“On Thursday, we were denied entry to the location and then, on Friday, the owner of the property did come to the city of Sunland Park and submitted an application for a permit,” Perea said, according KDBC.
Perea contends city ordinance limits walls to six feet in height, and alleges neither We Build The Wall nor the landowner received permission from the city to begin construction.
City spokesperson Peter Ibardo told The Tribune the same thing.
“The city has not provided any permits, it has not approved the construction that has gone up already,” Ibardo said. “They built the structure without authority or any building permits from the city.”
“Ibardo later said the permit was only picked up Friday before the long holiday weekend, was incomplete when it was submitted and that site inspectors tried to visit the property last week but were turned away,” according to The Tribune.
“There are a lot of moving pieces to this, it caught everyone off guard,” he said.
We BUILT a Wall…in 3 Days! from We Build the Wall on Vimeo.
Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a member of We Build the Wall’s membership team, said “official inspectors were on the property” before construction began Friday.
“One official gave us the all-clear on Thursday. Another gave us the all-clear on Friday. And that’s actually when they came down and examined the site and told us we could proceed,” Kobach told KDBC.
We Build the Wall co-founder Dustin Stockton said the wall was “mostly up” and scheduled to be completed by the end of the week, but now the crew is sitting idle until the permit issue is resolved.
Perea: The legal process for the company to be allowed to keep building will take at least two months.
— Keenan Willard (@KeenanKFOX_CBS) May 28, 2019
“Perea: The legal process for the company to be allowed to keep building will take at least two months,” KDBC reporter Keenan Willard posted to Twitter Tuesday.
We Build the Wall posted a video to Vimeo on Memorial Day titled “We BUILT a Wall … in 3 Days!” that shows progress on the project, an undertaking involving numerous large CAT excavators running day and night.
Getting a tour from a member of “We Build the Wall” and he says they plan to be done with this section of the fence by Friday. #elpaso pic.twitter.com/D509tItp66
— HollyKFOX_CBS (@HollyKFOX_CBS) May 28, 2019
Exactly how much of the new wall has gone up remains unclear, but a video posted to Twitter by El Paso television weathercaster Holly Bock shows what appears to be about a half mile of slatted metal barrier erected at the site.
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