It was with much fanfare and stunning results – millions of dollars raised within days – that wounded Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise cash from American citizens to build a security wall on the southern border.
The move came as Congress refused to allocate funding for a barrier to deal with the influx of illegal aliens and illegal drugs.
The original idea was that the money would go to the government and be used to build the wall.
Although millions were raised, Kolfage took on a board of advisers and ultimately created a nonprofit group, We Build the Wall, with the same goal.
Now, he’s announced a plan to use the money to build wall sections on private property where the landowners give permission.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=MJ2GHyGbp7o
He explained in a video his team won’t need the approval of the Democrats in Washington.
“We all came to the conclusion that it would be better to build the wall ourselves. On private property of landowners who want it,” he said.
“We get approval from the landowners … and that’s it.”
The project so far, with an ultimate goal of $1 billion, has collected about $20.7 million dollars from more than 350,000 donors.
His advisers include Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding III, ex-Navy Seal Erik Prince, former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Angel Mom Mary Ann Mendoza, Sheriff David Clarke and former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo.
“It’s ‘We the People’ who are funding it, are building it and are protecting our nation,” he said.
His website has a button for donors who gave before Jan. 11 to opt in to the new program; donations after that date automatically are included.
Those who choose not to forward a previous donation to the new organization get refunds, he said.
The organization already is identifying corridors where illegal aliens cross most regularly. And it’s found landowners in those areas who are interested in having a wall on their land.
The organization has been holding town halls in various cities to generate support for the program.
At a recent meeting in Cincinnati, another Angel Mom, Virginia, spoke of losing her daughter to fentanyl that came illegally into the U.S. from Mexico.
She blasted Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, “in the face of this huge epidemic,” of going on Twitter and saying he doesn’t support a barrier.
And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., claim there’s “no border emergency,” she said.
“They know about all these deaths.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=198&v=z1EiQ3jtXrs
Kolfage, during a deployment to Iraq in 2004, was hit by an enemy rocket and lost three of his limbs. He’s now a husband and father of two, a guest on cable TV and an outspoken advocate for U.S. border security.
He’s explained to Fox News: “We are going to be building this wall. They are not leasing us the land, they are not selling us the land, they are just saying we can build it there for no cost. We are going to go into their property and build mile by mile.”
Kolfage originally suggested that if “the 63 million people who voted for Trump each pledge $80, we can build the wall.”
