Right-wing group continues to build private border wall. It lacks permits, but not official praise.
By Nick Miroff
November 22, 2019 at 9:54 a.m. EST
A right-wing group led by Stephen K. Bannon and prominent allies of President Trump has been bulldozing the banks of the Rio Grande to erect a privately funded border fence along the water’s edge despite lacking permits to build on the international flood plain in Texas.
We Build the Wall plans to install a 3.5-mile “water wall” and paved road on private land immediately adjacent to the river, which serves as the U.S.-Mexico boundary. Construction activity along the river banks is tightly regulated under international treaties because structures can exacerbate flood damage and alter the course of the river channel.
The International Boundary and Water Commission, which issues permits to build in the Rio Grande channel, has asked the group to suspend construction, submit a detailed engineering study and withdraw its excavators and other heavy equipment from the river levees.
Brian Kolfage, president of We Build the Wall, said his group is barreling forward anyway, newly emboldened by praise for its work from senior Department of Homeland Security officials.
“Who else loves the fresh smell of diesel in the morning when we’re building the wall?” Kolfage wrote on Twitter, posting videos of the banks of the Rio Grande scraped bare by graders and bulldozers. “Does it look like we were told stop? NOPE! Burning & Churning suckers.”
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/right-wing-group-continues-to-build-private-border-wall-it-lacks-permits-but-not-official-praise/2019/11/22/b4281676-0c71-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html
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