Arizona governor continues building shipping container border wall

Arizona Governor Ducey continues building shipping container border wall.

The federal government has asked him to stop.

The incoming governor says it’s a waste of resources.

Crews have placed hundreds of shipping containers topped with barbed wire along Arizona’s remote eastern border with Mexico in a daring display by Republican Governor Doug Ducey, even as he prepares to leave office.

Protesters have slowed the work in recent days as Ducey pushed ahead despite objections from the US government, environmentalists and the incoming governor who sees it as a misuse of administration resources.

WHAT WILL THEY DO WITH THE CONTAINERS?

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Democratic Governor-elect Katie Hobbs declared last week that she was «looking at all options» and had not yet decided what to do with the shipping containers after her inauguration on January 5. She previously suggested that the containers be repurposed as affordable housing, an increasingly popular option for the homeless and low-income residents.

“I don’t know how much it will cost to remove the containers and what the cost will be,” Hobbs told Phoenix’s KAET in an interview Wednesday. This has caused a lot of controversy both politically and socially, so we will have to wait to see what happens in the coming months.

IT’S ILLEGAL

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Federal agencies have communicated to Governor Ducey that construction on US soil is illegal and have ordered that he halt. Ducey responded on October 21 by suing federal officials over their objections, sending the dispute to court.

Environmental groups claim the containers could endanger natural water systems and species. “Between here and early January, there could be a lot of damage,” said Russ McSpadden, a southwestern conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, who has been a regular visitor since late October.

GOVERNOR DUCEY DEFENDS HIS ACTIONS

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Ducey insists that Arizona has exclusive or shared jurisdiction over the 60-foot strip on which the containers rest and has a constitutional right to protect residents from «imminent danger of criminal and humanitarian crises». Federal agencies want Ducey’s lawsuit dismissed.

“Arizona will do the job that Joe Biden refuses to do — secure the border any way we can,” Ducey said when Arizona sued the US government. «We are not going to back down,» the governor insisted in response to the the hail of criticism over his border wall. Filed Under: Arizona border wall

BORDER SECURITY SPARKS CONTROVERSY

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Border security was a focus of Donald Trump’s presidency and continues to be a potent issue for Republican politicians. Hobbs’ Republican rival, Kari 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 for continued construction of Trump’s iconic wall on mostly private land along his state’s border with Mexico and has raised funds to help pay it. He has also bused migrants to Democratic-led cities far from the southern border, such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. With information from the AP and Publimetro. Filed Under: Arizona Border wall