Border wall contracts granted to company with history of scandals

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(The Center Square) – One company that has received roughly $2 billion in border wall construction contracts from the Department of Homeland Security has a history of scandals and fines and is currently suing DHS over a 2022-era border wall contract. 

Roughly $3 billion in recent contracts have been awarded to two companies to build a border wall and barriers in the Big Bend region of west Texas. DHS says it plans to use eminent domain to take Texans’ land if they don’t voluntarily cooperate, The Center Square reported. 

Thousands of Texans have called on Congress to halt the construction in west Texas, including all Texas border sheriffs, judges, ranchers, small business owners and Republican voters who support border security.  

One of the companies contracted to build a border wall in Presidio County is Fisher Sand & Gravel, part of North Dakota-based Fisher Industries. It was granted a $1.2 billion contract to build a “vertical border barrier system” in the county, including in Big Bend Ranch State Park. Last year, FSG was awarded $574 million to construct a smart wall in California and roughly $300 million to build a border wall section in Arizona, The Center Square reported.

Fisher Industries has a decades-long history of scandals, including criminal convictions of its former owners and top staff.

In 2005, its former president and COO, David William Fisher, was sentenced to five years in prison for possession of child pornography. Law enforcement found two videos and 23 files on his computer, including images of a 10-year-old girl he claims he hired to perform office work. He admitted to the allegations at his hearing, Builder Developer News reported. 

By 2009, FSG’s former co-owner, Michael Fisher, was sentenced to three years in prison for tax fraud. His former chief financial officer and comptroller also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. FSG was ordered to pay $1.16 million in restitution, penalties and fines and required to implement measures to prevent future fraud. In 2009, a sexual harassment lawsuit was also filed against a Fisher supervisor, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Ten years later, FSG says it was contacted by We Build the Wall to construct a border fence in Sunland Park, New Mexico, and in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The Sunland Park Border Wall, built on private property, was “one of its more notable jobs in company history,” it says. 

The projects were constructed under FSG’s current president, Tommy Fisher, the brother of the previous owners and convicted felons who are no longer employed by FSG. Tommy Fisher has donated to Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-ND.

We Build the Wall was launched by U.S. Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, board members Andrew Badalato, Timothy Shea and former Trump White House chief strategist and now social media personality Steve Bannon. All four were indicted for defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors who gave $25 million to build a border fence.

Kolfage and Badolato pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud; Kolfage also pleaded guilty to tax and wire fraud. Shea was convicted of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and obstruction of justice. In addition to their prison sentences, they were ordered to forfeit millions of dollars and pay millions of dollars in restitution in cases that were prosecuted in New York. Bannon pleaded guilty to one count in a scheme to defraud but served no prison time as part of a plea deal. Trump later pardoned him.  

FSG wasn’t implicated in the charges but it was sued in 2019 by the International Boundary and Water Commission. The commission alleged a fence it planned to build along the Rio Grande River in Hidalgo County, Texas, violated an international treaty, which it denied. A federal judge allowed construction to continue, enabling three miles of the fence to be built, which was completed in early 2020. At the time, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Ryan Patrick, a Republican, sued to stop construction, citing environmental and other concerns. A settlement agreement was eventually reached in 2022 requiring FSG to perform inspections and oversight related to flooding for a period of 15 years, among other requirements.

Also in 2019, the Department of Defense's Office of Inspector General launched an investigation into a $400 million contract FSG received after it was alleged that Cramer improperly influenced the process. Two years later, FSG and Cramer were cleared of any wrongdoing. 

Fast forward to February 2026 and FSG sued DHS alleging breach of contract. It argues it is owed $6.3 million for completed border wall construction near El Paso, Texas, related to a 2022 $94 million contract. 

Fisher Industries operates in multiple states. A Good Jobs First Violation Tracker cites 24 violations from 2008 to 2020 related to environmental, water or air pollution and workplace safety regulations. Fines were levied by state agencies in Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, as well as federal agencies, OSHA, EPA and EEOC. From 2008 to 2018, FSG received 169 citations in Maricopa County, Arizona, the High Plains Reader reported.

Fisher Industries has been named one of the “50 Best Places to Work” by Prairie Business Magazine for 12 consecutive years. It has also won multiple awards, including most recently by the California Transportation Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey. USGS ranks it 17 of the top 100 sand and gravel companies in the U.S.