An Arizona sheriff says he’ll detain builders who have worked to stack outgoing Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s unlawful shipping container “wall” should they proceed into his county, local affiliate FOX 10 reports. Ducey’s environmentally damaging “wall” is an illegal stunt, dropped without permission on federally controlled land in the Coronado National Forest.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway “told FOX 10 that he plans to arrest construction crews and security personnel if they reach Santa Cruz County,” the report said, calling the stacking “illegal dumping.”
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"The area where they're placing the containers is entirely on federal land, on national forest land," Hathaway told FOX 10 this past weekend. "It's not state land, it's not private land, and the federal government has said this [is] illegal activity. So just the way if I saw somebody doing an assault or a homicide or a vehicle theft on public land within my county, I would charge that person with a crime."
Hathaway told FOX 10 that construction was happening about six miles away from the county line. Nogales International reported that while Ducey spokesperson C.J. Karamargin confirmed plans for Cochise County, he would not comment about Santa Cruz County.
A small group of protesters have actually managed to halt much of the Republican governor’s stacking by physically blockading machines, since the federal government has been totally missing in action on this issue. These protesters have been clever, and relentless: When Ducey’s workers changed their hours to avoid protesters, the protesters adjusted their hours, too. “Hathaway says he supports those protests,” FOX 10 said.
Residents not at the sites have also been critical of the stacking stunt, saying they’ve witnessed the trucks carrying the shipping containers driving in unsafe ways.
“In the rural community of Elgin, there’s a one-lane bridge that requires traffic to travel carefully and slowly, according to resident Sue Downing,” Nogales International continued. “And for the past month, she’s noticed trucks traveling through the area—quickly—carrying the hulking shipping containers.” Hathaway confirmed the unsafe driving in that report, saying his deputies have witnessed trucks “barreling through Elgin.”
They’re likely barreling through because Ducey will be out of office in just a couple weeks, and his plan is to leave this useless “wall” up so that Republicans can then criticize incoming Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs should she take it down (and she should do so). Karamargin acknowledged local residents’ concerns about the unsafe driving, according to Nogales International. But, sorry, apparently the stunt is more important. “[H]e said the building wouldn’t go on forever,” the report said. “’And then,’ he added, ‘the construction will be done.’”
“Ducey's plan is to build 10 miles of this before incoming Gov. Hobbs takes office,” immigration journalist Melissa del Bosque tweeted late last month. “Then AZ is stuck with this $100 million dollar junkyard fence.” Tim Steller, an opinion columnist with Arizona Daily Star, dubbed the eyesore “Containerland” in a recent column. With this “wall” serving no actual purpose, Stellar said it’s merely a “political symbol” to boost Ducey’s future political ambitions.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to the handful of people who have started hanging out at the wall, stopping contractors from continuing their work,” Stellar continued. “Kate Scott, who lives in nearby Lyle Canyon, helped launch the protests. She said, 'There comes a time in your life when you say, 'Enough.' Enough destruction of the environment, enough destruction of wildlife habitat.'”
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