Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s $176 million shipping container “wall” has begun to come down following a federal lawsuit last month. Border Report says that in southwestern Arizona near Yuma, the illegal taxpayer-funded eyesore is completely gone.
Ducey had for several months defied polite requests from federal agencies to remove the containers, which he’d illegally dumped onto federal lands that included the Coronado National Forest. It was only after the federal government sued that Ducey backed down, acquiescing just one week after the filing.
RELATED STORY: It's going to cost Arizonans $76 million to take down Ducey's $100 million shipping container 'wall'
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While Ducey’s office has previously cited construction costs of at least $82 million, its likely to cost at least $95 million. Following the federal lawsuit, Arizona said it’ll now cost another $76 million to take the illegal stunt down. AshBritt Management & Logistics, the shady contractor hired by Arizona, is making out like a bandit during all of this, getting paid for both putting up the containers and now for removing them.
And down they’re coming, finally. The containers dumped in the Yuma sector had been scheduled to be removed first, in early January, under the agreement reached by Arizona and the federal government. Officials at that time were still working on a date for miles of containers to be removed from the Coronado National Forest in Cochise County. KGUN reported last week that they were starting to come down there as well, in a process that could take as long as two months.
It appears containers can’t just be picked up and moved away, which you’d maybe assume would happen. I really don’t know anything about construction, legal or otherwise. But it turns out these containers must first be moved from their current placing to a waiting area of sorts, and from there they’ll get picked up and removed from the region. KGUN reports containers will be moved to “final resting location at Tucson Jail.”
Speaking of jail, Ducey and his people have continued to lie about this illegal project, falsely claiming that the unlawful dumping somehow spurred the Biden administration to fill border wall gaps left by the previous administration. But Ducey announced his illegal stunt after the Biden administration had publicly said it would fill the gaps. So not only did Ducey carry out an illegal political stunt and send taxpayers his bill, he’s a liar. George Santos would be proud.
“The containers were meaningless and served no purpose,” Arizona-California Humanitarian Coalition’s Fernando Quiroz told Border Report. “It cost Arizona taxpayers almost $170 million.” Advocates interestingly tell Border Report that since the illegal dumping’s removal near Yuma, migrant crossings in the region have actually gone down.
But, calm down Doug, it’s not because of anything you did. “The numbers have decreased quite a bit, it’s the holidays, and the important dignitaries, senators coming to this area and Mexico is holding individuals back right now so there’s not the numbers to be seen,” Quiroz continued. He said that’s allowed local shelters “to build back up get more supplies” to ensure that migrants processed and released by U.S. officials can get some short-term help.
It’s a frightening time for these shelters, and not at all because of migrants themselves. On New Year’s Eve, a man who proclaimed himself “eyes for America” pointed his gun at migrants who were outside an El Paso church. He has since been arrested and faces a federal weapons charge in addition to other charges. Texas Republicans have also targeted a Catholic organization and other nongovernmental groups for aiding migrants.
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