Makeshift border wall built to stem illegal migration removed in Arizona
Footage taken on Tuesday showed construction machinery removing a line of shipping containers placed along the US-Mexico border in Yuma, Arizona amid a federal lawsuit.
Back on December 21, 2022, Arizona state and federal authorities reached an agreement to remove the containers and the equipment, materials, and vehicles used to install them by early January.
The agreement came after the US government filed a lawsuit alleging that the makeshift wall designed to deter migrants was illegally erected on federal lands.
The two sides managed to solve the issue two weeks before Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who opposes the construction, took over as governor on Monday.
Former Republican governor, Doug Ducey, signed an executive order in August 2022 directing a state agency to close the gaps along Arizona's 370-mile (600-km) border with Mexico by double-stacking the shipping containers.
Before signing the order, Ducey argued that border communities were being used as the entryway to the US, overwhelming law enforcement, hospitals, nonprofits, and residents.
In its lawsuit, the Justice Department argued the containers were illegally constructed on federal lands.
Ducey had previously said he had the right to defend the state of Arizona and protect its citizens. His office had described the rise in the number of migrant crossings as "ominous," threatening to overwhelm border communities.
Environmental activists opposed the improvised wall - 22 feet (6.7 m) high and topped with concertina wire - as harmful to local wildlife.
The work of placing up to 3,000 containers at a cost of about $95 million was about a third complete.
(Source: Reuters)
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