The U.S.-Mexico border wall has gaps. For some stretches, the border has no barrier to stop illegal immigrants, human traffickers, or drug smugglers from entering the United States.
The state of Arizona has tried to fill the gaps with 60-foot-long shipping containers, double-stacked and topped with barbed wire… only to face accusations of trespassing from President Joe Biden’s administration.
Arizona has maintained the shipping containers along the border since August. Around that time, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, ratcheted up his criticism of the Biden administration’s inaction in stopping illegals from entering the state from Mexico.
Critics point out that some illegal immigrants have found gaps between Ducey’s containers. Supporters say that Ducey is at least bringing national attention to failed U.S. border security.
Federal officials ordered Ducey to remove the barriers along Arizona’s southwestern border, near Yuma.
Ducey sued in federal court on Oct. 21, asking a court to allow the state to keep more than 100 double-stacked containers topped with razor wire in place near the borders with California and Mexico. It also mentions U.S. Forest Service land where the new containers are being placed hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the east.
At the time of the lawsuit, Ducey placed another string of containers in Cochise County, the southeastern corner of the state.
Then the Biden administration hit Ducey with the allegation of “trespass” and ordered him to delay the project in Cochise County.
“The unauthorized placement of those containers constitutes a violation of federal law and is a trespass against the United States,” Jacklynn Gould, regional director for the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation, said in a letter obtained by Fox News.
“That trespass is harming federal lands and resources and impeding Reclamation’s ability to perform its mission.”
The area has become one of the busiest corridors for illegal crossings.
The Department of Homeland Security said it’s planning work to close four wide gaps in the wall near Yuma to better protect would-be illegal immigrants who can slip down a slope or drown walking through a low section of the Colorado River.
Homeland Security already authorized the completion of the project near Yuma in July. The department also plans to authorize a project closing two more gaps, Gould reportedly said in the letter.
State and local officials have accused the Biden administration of acting too slowly and inefficiently.
Ducey descibed the Biden administration’s slow actions as “just another example of the federal government bureaucracy and out-of-control spending.”
Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines described federal officials as “entrenched in bureaucracy.” State Sen. Sine Kerr — a Republican representing Yuma’s district — urged the Biden administration to “stop this bureaucracy game.”
Take a look at the shipping containers —
AZ: Gov @DougDucey issues Executive Order directing Arizona Dept. of Emergency & Military Affairs to fill the gaps in the Yuma border wall using 60 double-stacked shipping containers. The barriers will be reinforced w/ concertina wire at the top according to Gov Ducey @NewsNation pic.twitter.com/prM0aCPEyp
— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) August 12, 2022
This week AZ Gov. Doug Ducey began dropping thousands of multi-ton shipping containers in Coronado National Forest to construct an ad hoc border wall in defiance of federal authorities.
I visited the site w/ @PeccaryNotPig and wrote about the effort here: https://t.co/ZDtsIGm5On pic.twitter.com/tOislmSfX4
— Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) October 29, 2022
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.