We Build The Wall

We Build the Wall is an organization that solicited donations to build private sections of the wall along the Mexico–U.S. border. It started as a GoFundMe campaign by United States Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage in December 2018. Kolfage announced the formation of a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization in January 2019. By mid-2020, over $25 million had been raised and a 3-mile (4.8 km) section of fence had been built. The organization was involved in the construction of walls along the border in Sunland Park, New Mexico and Mission, Texas.

Its advisory board included politicians and activists with a hard-line stance on illegal immigration, including former secretary of state of Kansas Kris Kobach; former congressman Tom Tancredo; Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince; former Milwaukee sheriff David Clarke; and former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, who is chairman of the board.

In August, 2020 Brian Kolfage, Steve Bannon, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea were charged with a scheme to divert over a million dollars from We Fund the Wall, of which at least $350,000 illegally went to Kolfage for personal use. The men faced federal felony charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Kolfage and Badolato pled guilty, Bannon was pardoned by then-President Trump, and Shea was convicted in October 2022 after the first trial ended in a hung jury. Bannon was later indicted in September, 2022 on state charges in New York.

Organizational history

Beginnings on GoFundMe

In December 2018, Kolfage started an attempt to raise $1 billion via GoFundMe, initially called ''We Fund the Wall'', for the construction of a border wall between the United States and Mexico. Kolfage said the target figure was achievable, adding "This won't be easy, but it's our duty as citizens". In an email to ''The Washington Post'', Kolfage stated that he began the fundraiser as "political games from both parties" have been holding back funding for the wall. Within three days, over $9 million had been raised.

Formation of non-profit organization

In January 2019, Kolfage posted a message to the GoFundMe page that he had decided that raising money through a nonprofit would be more successful. A new 501(c)(4) nonprofit was created and called ''We Build The Wall Inc.'' through which Kolfage plans to have segments of the wall privately constructed through negotiations with landowners along the border. GoFundMe however issued a statement after Kolfage's statement that it would give refunds unless the donor chose to opt into the change to where the donations would go.

By January 2019, former Kansas Secretary of State and anti-immigration activist Kris Kobach had joined Kolfage's advisory board. Kobach said he was currently unpaid, but might take a paid position with Kolfage's organization. Kobach indicated the biggest problems along the border were "litter and security." In a phone call between him and the president on January 23, 2019, Kobach said Donald Trump, endorsed the project saying, "...the project has my blessing, and you can tell the media that." As the money Kolfage is accumulating is going to a 501(c)4, it could all be spent as "dark money" in political campaigns, with next to no public reporting of expenditures required.

Kobach campaigns for Wall and Senate

On July 8, 2019, as he stood in front of a "Build the Wall" banner, in Leavenworth, Kansas, Kobach announced his candidacy for the 2020 United States Senate election in Kansas to replace retiring Senator Pat Roberts, saying, referring to his campaign theme: "I've been on the southern border constantly in the past six months and I can tell you stories that will make your skin crawl." "I don't talk about what the president and I say in our communications, but let me just say he was very encouraging when we spoke a few days ago." A spokesperson confirmed Kobach had spoken to President Trump about the announcement of his candidacy on July 4. Kobach received the endorsement of former congressman Tom Tancredo, who is known for his political views on illegal immigration and is also a board member for We Build The Wall. However, despite his best efforts, Kobach lost the Republican Primary to Representative Roger Marshall.

On August 1, 2019, Kobach sent out a campaign fundraiser using both the corporate name and email list of "Wall" donors. Kobach's involvement with WBtW, which is a 501(c)4 organization, has given cause for concern, as the fundraising and campaign mailing lists it is accumulating are prohibited from coordinating with his Senate campaign, but the ability and appetite for effective oversight within the Trump administration are anticipated to likely be inadequate. Common Cause Vice President of Policy and Litigation Paul S. Ryan said, "At a minimum, this Kobach for Senate fundraising solicitation email appears to violate the 'paid for by' disclaimer requirement" for official campaign communications. Ryan specified the requirement that mandates disclosure of the financial sponsors who originate official political communications. Kobach's email might be legal if his campaign paid fair market value for use of the list. If that were the case, a "paid for by" disclaimer would be required but was not present in the solicitation. Ryan said, "If the Kobach committee did not pay fair market value for the cost of disseminating this email, then the committee has arguably committed the more serious campaign finance law violation of receiving a corporate contribution in the form of a coordinated expenditure." WBtW is legally prohibited from financing federal political campaigns in any fashion.

On July 23, 2019, Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle of Wichita filed the paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission necessary to run in the race for the vacant Senate seat. She criticized Kobach's employment in the controversial privately financed and constructed scheme to build the southern border wall. Wagle supports the building of a federally designed, bid and funded wall while saying Kobach's group undermines federal involvement. "We don't need some rogue organization going out and building the wall."

Donation concerns

Concern has been raised about how the money from the GoFundMe would be distributed after the fundraiser has ended. While on the fundraiser Kolfage has stated that he has contacted the Trump administration about donating the money, and citizens can mail money as gifts to the United States, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. He has also cited the 2012 Washington Monument restoration project in which a philanthropist billionaire matched donations to restore the monument after the 2011 East Coast earthquake. It is not clear if the Department of Homeland Security can accept gifts, and if the money is accepted it would still go into a general fund that must be allocated by Congress.

Other concerns about the use of donations were raised in 2019 by backers and others who became concerned about the reported clandestine operations and assurances of progress without physical backing of land being purchased or structures being built. Kolfage has repeatedly changed the date for the beginning of the project under ''WeBuildTheWall Inc,'' having told Politico in February 2019 that groundbreaking would be in May or June 2019, then in a March 2019 interview with American Family Radio

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