The state of Arizona is making major moves along its porous border with Mexico that are sure to upset the regime in Washington.
On Joe Biden’s first day in office, he signed a series of executive orders reversing former President Donald Trump’s border enforcement policies including the building of the wall and ‘Remain in Mexico.’
The results were predictable: A huge new influx of illegal migrants that has records month after month.
As Texas moves to bus as many of them as possible to Washington, D.C., and New York City, Arizona is moving to plug a gap in the border wall begun during Trump’s term.
“Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) signed an Executive Order Friday afternoon authorizing the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to begin emergency construction to fill in a 1,000-foot-long gap in the border wall in the Yuma sector,” The Daily Wire reported.
“The spur-of-the-moment order was abruptly announced after construction had already begun, and the governor’s office said construction would be concluded over the weekend. The order comes just days after the Biden administration lifted the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy earlier this week,” the outlet continued.
In a statement, Ducey — whose term ends following the November elections — proclaimed: “Arizona has had enough.”
“We can’t wait any longer. The Biden administration’s lack of urgency on border security is a dereliction of duty. 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,” Ducey said.
“Our border communities are being used as the entryway to the United States, overwhelming law enforcement, hospitals, nonprofits and residents,” Ducey continued in his statement. “It’s our responsibility to protect our citizens and law enforcement from this unprecedented crisis.
“With the resources and manpower in the right places, our Border Patrol and law enforcement will be better equipped to do their jobs well and prevent cartels from exploiting our communities. That’s exactly what our barrier mission will do,” he added.
The Daily Wire noted further:
To construct the barrier, the state purchased 60 8,800 pound, 9×40 foot shipping containers. The containers will be linked together, then welded shut and topped with concertina razor wire. The barrier will be about 22 feet high, shorter than the 30-foot panels of border wall installed by the Trump administration. The project is expected to cost about $6 million, which will be taken from the $335 million “Arizona Border Security Fund.”
The Washington Examiner reported that Arizona officials made the official announcement about the new border barrier on Friday morning, just minutes after construction began. At the time, the state had not yet informed the federal Department of Homeland Security or the Biden White House. The outlet added that Arizona officials only made the decision to begin construction last week.
“At this point, we are filling that gap and we’ll figure out the consequences,” the governor’s general counsel, Anni Foster, told reporters, according to the Examiner. “But bottom line is, is that the federal government has a duty to protect the states. They failed to do that.
“We have made every effort to work with them and try to resolve this problem, but the governor can no longer wait for the federal government to take action when we have a community like Yuma, who is being sheltered at 150 percent of capacity,” she continued.
C.J. Karamargin, Ducey’s communications director, added that the governor decided to act after the regime promised twice — once in December and again in July — to begin filling the gap.
“December came and went. January, February, March. Here we are in mid-August,” Karamargin said. “We’ve been waiting a very long time for the federal government to act on measures they said they were going to do and we haven’t seen any tangible evidence that they’re following through. So we will be doing it ourselves.”
“Our hope is that they’ll be paying attention to the news today,” he continued.
Last fall, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) — after getting nowhere with Biden’s border czar, VP Kamala Harris, and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas regarding filling open gaps, also launched a ‘wall’ project using shipping containers to plug holes. That project is ongoing.
