Arizona is Plugging Gaps in the Border Wall and The Biden Administration Doesn’t Like It

Just when we were convinced RINO Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona is an empty suit, who takes his orders from the Paul Ryan faction of the Republican party, he does something so completely uncharacteristic it leaves you wondering what his future might have been if he had shown the same kind of backbone during the 2020 rigged election.

If you’ll recall, on the very day Biden was sworn into office, Slow Joe ordered a pause in the construction of Trump’s border wall, which resulted in an immediate and sustained surge of illegal aliens crossing over from Central America and Mexico. As far back as December 2021, federal officials promised Arizona that gaps in the wall were a top priority, but actual construction never materialized.

Apparently fed up and tired of constituent complaints, on Friday, August 12, Ducey issued an executive order to fill gaps in the border wall in Yuma using shipping containers topped off with razor wire. The order directed the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to undertake the project in areas where the border patrol has experienced a 242 percent increase in border crossings in the Yuma sector this year.

I swear I didn’t think Ducey had it in him.

My initial reaction to the news was a pleasant sense of shock as I tipped my hat to the governor for such a simple but brilliant plan. The containers are double stacked to a height of 22 feet, welded shut and topped off with about 4-feet of razor wire. The cost of the project was estimated to be around $6 million, or $6,000 per linear foot. For comparison purposes, Trump’s wall cost about $3,600 per linear foot.

At the time the project was announced, Ducey released a statement that said:

“For the last two years, Arizona has made every attempt to work with Washington to address the crisis on our border. Time and time again we’ve stepped in to clean up their mess. Arizonans can’t wait any longer for the federal government to deliver on their delayed promises.”

Construction Completed Without a Hitch

The speed at which the project was completed was impressive. Just 11 days from the announcement, 48 workers installed 130 double-stacked containers complete with razor wire, filling 3820 linear feet of gaps. For more than two months, the container wall has been functioning as intended, slowing down the rate of border crossings and increasing the number of apprehensions by funneling aliens toward specific areas that are easier to patrol.

For border patrol agents, who are exhausted and short of resources, closing gaps in the wall has been a respite from the flow of drugs, weapons and human smuggling. The residents who are most affected by the impact of porous borders are also grateful for the containers, which means, of course, the Biden administration can’t allow them to stay in place.

Predictably, the Federal Government Objects

Naturally, any new policies that benefit American citizens must be undone by the federal government, which is why it came as no surprise that Arizona received an order from the Federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) demanding the state remove the containers and refrain from installing any new ones.

In the letter directed to the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, and the Director of the Arizona Department of Homeland Security, the Regional Director of the Bureau of Reclamation said:

“The unauthorized placement of those containers constitutes a violation of federal law and is a trespass against the United States. That trespass is harming federal lands and resources and impeding Reclamation’s ability to perform its mission.”

According to the BOR, Arizona violated the sovereignty of the Cocopah Indians by placing containers on rights of way within the exterior boundaries of the tribe’s west reservation. Additionally, the BOR claims the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection awarded a contract for the closure of two gaps in the area where the containers were placed.

Yeah, okay. Arizona has been asking for border assistance since Slow Joe took office, but the state has received nothing but false promises and lip service from the federal government. Anyone want to place a bet on how long it will be before work actually starts on closing the gaps? I’d put overwhelming odds on “probably never.”

Arizona Refuses to Remove the Containers

Responding to the BOR’s order, the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs refused to remove or relocate any of the shipping containers blocking the border gaps. Employing the “fool me once” idiom, Arizona apparently will not allow itself to be duped again by the federal government, and instead, steadfastly demands specific details and timeframes related to the construction projects the BOR claims will close the gaps. Arizona also filed a lawsuit challenging an early 1900’s executive order issued by President Theodore Roosevelt that declared all land along the border was the property of the federal government.

Ducey Grows a Pair… Finally

Doug Ducey is an Arizona RINO Republican in the grand tradition of John McCain, Jeff Flake and Martha McSally. RINOs talk tough during the election, but once the votes are counted, they capitulate to the progressive left and ignore the will of their voting base. Time and again, this template has been the primary driver behind RINO immigration policy. That’s why it is so surprising to see Ducey actually take action that benefits the people of Arizona. It will be interesting to watch how this story unfolds and whether Ducey has the fortitude to stand his ground.

I’m still betting he caves. We’ll see…