Arizona has officially kicked off a new plan to utilize shipping containers to try and close out the gap in yet another area of the country’s southern border touching Mexico, all seemingly done directly to spite the criticism coming from officials within the Biden administration.
As part of a Monday morning announcement, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey explained the effort taking place in Cochise County in the wake of federal officials telling him the get rid of the previously set up wall of containers.
This new section of the reinforced border is thought to use well over 2,700 shipping containers to cover the long 10-mile gap along the southern border.
“Today, we continued to follow through on our promise to add physical barriers to the border where possible,” explained Ducey.
On Friday, we committed to moving forward with our Border Barrier Mission – undeterred by the Biden admin’s efforts to reverse our progress.
Today, we continued to follow through on our promise to add physical barriers to the border where possible. 1/ pic.twitter.com/eUk3LPD99E
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) October 24, 2022
“The unresolved border and public safety crisis caused by the Biden admin continues – in Arizona, we don’t stand idly by when our citizens need us most. Arizona isn’t afraid of a challenge. We will not back down. We will protect our state,” he went on to claim.
This choice to further expand the use of these shipping containers to deal with the crisis along the border comes directly in the aftermath of a lawsuit pushed by Arizona this past week in order to affirm the state’s legal right to protect itself.
“Our border communities are overwhelmed by illegal activity as a result of the Biden administration’s failure to secure the southern border,” explained Ducey in a release.
“Arizona is taking action to protest on behalf of our citizens. With this lawsuit, we’re pushing back against efforts by federal bureaucrats to reverse the progress we’ve made. The safety and security of Arizona and its citizens must not be ignored. Arizona is going to do the job that Joe Biden refuses to do — secure the border in any way we can. We’re not backing down,” he continued.
The lawsuit itself came into play once Ducey refused to go along with the Biden admin demand to take down the existing shipping containers located in the Yuma area.
A letter was sent out on Tuesday by the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs addressed to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in order to tell the admin that the state would not be taking down any of its containers until a completed permanent barrier was in place.
“Arizonans cannot — and will not — wait for federal bureaucrats to do their job and secure the border. We’re taking action now,” posted Ducey to social media Wednesday morning.
The Border Barrier Mission was carried out over a period of 11 days, within which they were able to fill 3,820 feet of gaps in the border wall while utilizing 123 containers to finish.
Additionally, Arizona State Republican Sen. Sine Kerr promised that they would not be prevented from protecting the people of the state.
“Yuma has experienced a humanitarian and national security crisis for far too long. The Biden administration created this problem, they need to end it and stop this bureaucracy game,” explained Kerr.
