Yahoo Movies Texas governor says he will ask people around the ‘world’ to donate to build Trump’s border wall
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said he plans to ask people from around “the entire world” to donate to the construction of a border wall between his state and Mexico.
Last week, Mr Abbott, a Republican, announced plans for Texas to build its own border wall, prompting questions around who would be paying for the endeavour.
Speaking in an interview on the podcast Ruthless, Mr Abbott revealed that he plans to crowdfund the initiative, drawing on funds from “everybody” who wants to donate to the initiative.
“When I do make the announcement later on this week, I will also be providing a link that you can click on and go to for everybody in the United States – really everybody in the entire world – who wants to help Texas build the border wall, there will be a place on there where they can contribute,” the governor said on the podcast, which centres around Republican politics.
Mr Abbott said donations made to the initiative would be “overseen by the state of Texas in the governor’s office”.
He said there would be “great transparency” around the initiative, with the governor saying “everyone will know every penny in, every penny out, but the sole purpose for those funds will be going to build the border wall”.
The governor said he would be shedding more light on his plan later this week.
Regarding his reasons for aiming to fund the wall, Mr Abbott has cited President Joe Biden’s efforts to stop or reverse immigration policies introduced by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump – including the construction of Mr Trump’s border wall between the US and Mexico.
Of course, Mr Abbott will not be the first person to take a crack at crowdfunding a border wall, with a private fundraiser known as “we Build the Wall” having raised more than $25 million to help bring Mr Trump’s border wall ambitions to fruition.
Those involved with the initiative, including Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s former adviser, were later charged with defrauding donors, however.
Mr Trump pardoned Mr Bannon before departing from office in January.
It is unclear how many miles of border wall Mr Abbott hopes to see constructed and how much the initiative will cost.
However, the project is unlikely to garner President Biden’s support.
On Friday, just a day after Mr Abbott made his initial announcement on the plans, the White House put out a fresh call for construction of Mr Trump’s border wall to come to an official end.
The White House urged Congress to cancel money that had been previously dedicated to the construction of the barriers and redirect it to other border initiatives.
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