You may remember that a Florida man named Brian Kolfage started a Go Fund Me drive called “We The People Will Build the Wall” campaign to collect money from Americans who were sick and tired of the government’s inactivity making sure our borders are secure.

Over 300,000 Americans, sick and tired of our porous borders, donated money, to the tune of $20 million.  They wanted someone to do something about the out-of-control illegal immigration.  “Build the Wall” was the common refrain that allowed Donald Trump to gain the political edge, but the machinations of politics (and a lack of resolve) has kept it from happening. 

Once again.  

The founder said the amount of money they received shows that people of both political parties support border control:

He said the GoFundMe started as an idea that would get voters involved in the border security issue, rather than just politicians who he says are “playing games.”

“In our organization, we have lots of Democratic supporters,” Kolfage said. “They don’t support Trump, but they do support border security.”

In the almost two months since the GoFundMe campaign began, it has raised over $20 million, a feat its founder says highlights the bipartisan level of support the wall has across the country.

Itis a crying shame — no, an outrage — that politicians refuse to keep their promises, so citizens have to resort to these sorts of “solutions.”

From the beginning, Kolfage said he’d refund all of the money if they didn’t hit his $1 billion goal. 

“When the campaign was created, the campaign organizer specifically stated on the campaign page, ‘If we don’t reach our goal or come significantly close we will refund every single penny,’” GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne explained. “He also stated on the campaign page, ‘100 percent of your donations will go to the Trump Wall. If for any reason we don’t reach our goal we will refund your donation.” 

There are many rumors floating around the internet about what exactly has happened with all of this money.  Since I donated, I can reveal exactly how GoFundMe has handled the situation.  

I got a notice from GoFundMe that “We The People Will Build the Wall” campaign was changed to a 501 (c)4, which means that all of the donors would have to click through to a link to confirm that their money would be transferred to this new organization.

“If you are reading this, it is because we haven’t yet heard from you about how to handle your donation to We The People Will Fund the Wall

The campaign changed its plan for the money it raised and formed a 501(c)(4) called We Build The Wall, Inc. This modified the originally stated use for your contribution and requires you to agree to the new plan. 

If you would like your contribution to go to We Build The Wall, Inc., you must opt in before April 11, 2019.  [They then including a link.]. If you do nothing, you will automatically receive a refund from us soon after April 11, 2019.

I assume that most of the money was sent back to the original donors.

However, the fact that a Florida man was able to get 300,000 people to donate to the cause shows that there’s huge political support for a wall from both parties.  (As if the 2016 election wasn’t proof enough of that.)

It is inexcusable that politicians refuse to do the will of the people.Image Credit: Tony Webster

About The Author

Mark was a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, and served as the national coordinator. He left the organization to work more broadly on expanding the self-governance movement beyond the partisan divide. Mark appears regularly on television in outlets as diverse as MSNBC, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, Fox Business and the BBC. He’s highly sought after for the tea party perspective from print and electronic media outlets, from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Examiner, Politico and the The Hill. Mark blogs at MarkMeckler.com, and his opinion editorials regularly run in many of the leading political newspapers both on and offline. Mark has a BA in English from San Diego State University and graduated with honors from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1988. He practiced real estate and business law for almost a decade. For the last eleven years of his legal career he specialized in Internet advertising law. When not fighting for the future of our nation, Mark is an avid horseman, and lives in rural northern California with his wife Patty and two children.

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