City issues cease-and-desist order for private border wall

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In a May 24, 2019 photo, construction workers prepare footers for sections of bollard-style fencing to be installed along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a short section of privately-funded barrier on private land in Sunland Park, New Mexico. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

A border suburb of El Paso, Texas, has issued a cease-and-desist order against construction of a privately funded border barrier.

A spokesman for Sunland Park, New Mexico, said Tuesday that the barrier being erected by We Build The Wall Inc. on private property doesn't comply with city ordinances. City spokesman Peter Ibarbo says the company had applied for a construction permit but the application was incomplete.

The company didn't immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press.

In a statement to KVIA-TV in El Paso , the company says it had "done everything they need to do to be in compliance with all regulations." The company calls the stop order "a last ditch effort to intimidate us from completing this project."