Millions Short, Arizona Gives Up Plan for Privately Funded Border Fence

Arizona lawmakers who hoped to build miles of fencing along the border with Mexico using private money are pulling the plug on the project after nearly five years.

 

Republican backers of the 2011 legislation hoped to collect as much as $50 million in donations to build the fence. About $265,000 was collected.

 

Lawmakers, sheriffs and state department heads who serve on the Legislature’s border security advisory committee meet Monday to hear spending proposals for the money that was collected. They’ve asked sheriffs in Cochise, Pima, Yuma and Santa Cruz county to present plans for fencing or technology using the cash.