Border Wall GoFundMe Nears $16.5 Million, Anti-Wall Campaign ‘Nets’ $141,000

As Congress has yet to accept or reject a proposal providing $5 billion to fund a wall along the U.S. southern border, people have decided to take matters into their own hands with different crowdfunding campaigns in support of and against the border wall.

Brian Kolfage, a triple-amputee military veteran and Purple Heart recipient, started a GoFundMe campaign on December 16 called “We the People Will Fund the Wall,” to convince the federal government to allocate $1 billion to secure the border.

As of Monday afternoon, more than 272,000 people have raised over $16.5 million out of its $1 billion goal.

“As a veteran who has given so much, 3 limbs, I feel deeply invested to this nation to ensure future generations have everything we have today. Too many Americans have been murdered by illegal aliens and too many illegals are taking advantage of  the United States taxpayers with no means of ever contributing to our society,” Kolfage wrote on the page.

“I have grandparents who immigrated to America legally, they did it the correct way and it’s time we uphold our laws, and get this wall BUILT! It’s up to Americans to help out and pitch in to get this project rolling,” he continued.

Kolfage’s campaign created a stir among leftists, inspiring one left-wing to create a competing GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the migrants attempting to illegally cross the border.

Left-wing activist and transgender military veteran Charlotte Clymer to start a competing GoFundMe campaign on December 19 called “Ladders to Get Over Trump’s Wall” to raise money for illegal aliens trying to seek asylum in the U.S.

Clymer wrote:

We saw some folks are raising money for a border wall to keep out our migrant siblings and fellow human beings, who are fleeing violence and persecution and whose tragically-underpaid labor is essential to the U.S. economy. Seems like a bad idea on countless levels for everyone involved. Maybe we should focus on human rights and creating a community that reflects our supposed values.

Clymer’s campaign raised more than $142,000 out of $100 million from nearly 6,500 donors as of Monday afternoon—a much smaller sum than Kolfage’s initial campaign.

Kolfage’s viral campaign has also caught the attention of reporters and late night talk show hosts who have tried to disparage his campaign.

Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel attacked the donors of Kolfage’s campaign as “dopey people…dipping into their meth money,” and a Washington Post reporter tried and failed to shut down Kolfage’s fundraiser because he claimed the fundraiser discriminated against Latinos.