Earlier this year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection chose six companies to build prototypes for the wall in both concrete and “other materials” — and last month they unveiled eight different proposals, the closest this administration has come to fulfilling its signature campaign promise. All but one of the companies that built prototypes are privately held, but a close look at Sterling Construction Company, a publicly traded company based in Texas, suggests that even investors who have distanced themselves from the president’s immigration policies are eager to cash in should the wall actually come to pass.
A report on Sterling’s Wall Street investors, published today by a coalition of advocacy groups, warns of the “growing alignment” between the financial elite and the nationalist right-wing, and argues that Trump’s policies are not just a reflection of hard-line nativist ideology, but also of the economic and financial interests of beneficiaries that have largely been able to deflect scrutiny.
“Wall Street leaders across the political spectrum have positioned themselves to benefit financially from Trump’s wildly unpopular and expensive border wall,” write the authors of the report. “Their companies’ investments in the wall demonstrate a clear willingness to benefit financially from Trump’s most divisive immigration proposal.”
“Lacking from the public narrative is that corporate billionaires stand to gain the most financially,” Nikki Fortunato Bas, executive director of Partnership for Working Families, told The Intercept. Other groups in the coalition include the Center for Popular Democracy, Make the Road New York, and New York Communities for Change.
