Arizona builds a border wall by stacking containers in defiance of a federal order that prohibits it

the governor of ArizonaRepublican Doug Ducey, is building a wall on the border of USA with Mexico using containers. The politician assures that he seeks to stop the crossing of undocumented immigrants before he ends his term in January 2023. He does so despite the federal government’s ban.

“The governor Ducey has no intention of slow down or stop efforts to fill the existing gaps in the border wall with the container barrier”told the EFE agency the ducey’s office.

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Contractors work to finish placing the containers in a 16 km area in the county of Cochiseon the border with Mexico.

Ducey is not only opposed by the federal government, there is also objections from environmental groups and the incoming governor, the Democrat katie hobbswho accuses the authority of misusing state resources.

The wall is built by order of Arizona Republican Governor Doug Ducey. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

According to the AP agency, the governor-elect said last week that was “looking at all options” and had not decided what to do with the containers after he takes office on January 5. Previously, he suggested that the containers were to be repurposed as affordable housing for the homeless and low-income.

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“I don’t know how much it will cost to remove the containers and what the cost will be,” said Hobbs to Phoenix PBS television station KAET.

The governor Ducey already placed in August 4.8 kilometers of containers in the yuma county.

The AP reported that federal agencies told Arizona that the construction is illegal and they ordered it to stop. But Ducey it responded on October 21 by suing federal officials over their objections, and sent the dispute to court.

environmental damage

Environmental groups say the containers could endanger natural water systems and the species that inhabit the area.

They allege that endangered species such as the western yellow-billed cuckoo and the Mexican spotted owlas well as big cats, including the ocelot, will be affected by the wall.

“A lot of damage could be done here between now and early Januarysaid Russ McSpadden, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity who has traveled regularly to the site since late October.

EFE specified that environmentalists hope that, once she takes office as governor, Hobbs take measures to remove the containers.

“They will be arrested”

The County Sheriff Holy Cross, David Hathawaytold EFE that he is prepared to arrest any worker sent by Ducey to place containers in your jurisdiction.

The container wall costs around 95 million dollars and will cover 16 kilometers. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

“It is illegal to place these containers at federal, state and local levelHathaway said.

He specified that at Arrested will be charged with illegal dumping in the region.

The huge metal containers come to have a height of 6.7 meters.

Republicans and immigration

The governor Ducey defends itself by claiming that the state of Arizona it has a constitutional right to protect residents from the “imminent danger posed by humanitarian and criminal crises.”

“Arizona is going to do the job that Joe Biden refuses to do: secure the border in any way we can”, Ducey said. “We are not going to take a step back,” he emphasized.

AP recalls that border security was a central issue of Donald Trump’s presidency and continues to be an important issue for the Republican Party.

For the construction of the wall, 3,000 containers are being used. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The Republican nominee for ArizonaKari Lake campaigned on a promise to send the National Guard to the border on her first day in office. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, recently re-elected to a third term, has pushed to continue building Trump’s wall on mostly private land along his state’s border with Mexico and raised funds to help pay for it, he says. PA.

The AP agency specifies that the containers filled areas that were left open when Trump’s 724-kilometer border wall was built. But add that the remote San Rafael Valley, the most recent construction site, is rarely used by migrants and it was not contemplated in the construction plan of the former Republican president.

Despite this, huge gaps remain in the new container wallincluding an open space of several hundred meters on terrain too steep to place the metal blocks.

work in Yuma It cost about $6 million and was completed in 11 days with 130 of the containers covering about 1,, km.

The new project costs around 95 million dollars and uses up 3,000 containers to cover 16 kilometers.

The United States border with Mexico with data from 2019. (AFP).

Source: Elcomercio