- CASA GRANDE, Arizona: Arizona has launched a fundraising web site as the first step in a newly authorized project to use private donations and inmate labor to build fencing along the US-Mexico border.
The buildtheborderfence.com site went live early Wednesday morning and Arizona Senate spokesman Mike Philipsen says the site received 884 online donations totaling just over $39,000 by the end of the afternoon.
According to Philipsen, initial online donations ranged from the minimum of $5 to “dozens in the $250 to $500 range.
Sen. Steve Smith, a Republican who sponsored the legislation authorizing the fence project, has said his initial goal is to raise $50 million.
Smith and other supporters are holding a kickoff event for the fundraising campaign in Casa Grande in the first-term lawmaker’s district.