White House demands Arizona remove shipping containers from border wall gaps

(AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

You may remember when Arizona Governor Dough Ducey grew tired of waiting for the Biden administration to do something about the border crisis of their making and decided to take matters into his own hands. Several gaps in the border wall were blocked with stacks of shipping containers in an effort to make it easier to control the flow of illegal migrants into the country. This decision produced the usual outrage from the talking heads at CNN and MSNBC, but the new barriers did seem to begin producing results almost immediately.

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Well, all of that is coming to an end now if the White House gets its way. Over the weekend, the Biden administration demanded that Ducey remove the shipping containers and reopen the gaps in the wall. They’ve come up with a rather dubious explanation for the order, but the bottom line will remain the same. If the containers are removed, more gaps will be available for illegal migrants to simply stroll into the country, no matter how much KJP claims it doesn’t happen. (The Hill)

The Biden administration on Friday demanded that Arizona remove several dozen shipping containers that the state placed in gaps along its southern border with Mexico.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said in a letter on Friday that several of the double-stacked shipping containers lay within its lands and those of the Cocopah Indian Tribe’s West Reservation without their permission, violating federal law and constituting trespassing.

The bureau requested that the state remove the 80 shipping containers on its lands near Morelos Dam and another 42 containers on tribal lands, as well as halt the addition of new containers to federal or Indian trust lands.

We’re talking about two different categories of land here and the distinction may prove to be important. Some of the gaps with shipping containers installed in them fall on tribal lands belonging to the Cocopah Indian Tribe’s reservation. That’s always a touchy subject when lands controlled by indigenous tribes are involved. But there’s a strong case to be made that the border of the tribe’s land, when it butts up against another country, is still the proper business of the federal government. What’s unclear is whether or not the tribe complained or whether the Bureau of Reclamation raised the complaint “on their behalf.”

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The rest of the land is under the control of the Bureau. Why would they be demanding that the holes in the wall be opened back up unless they simply want more illegal migrants coming through? That’s where the aforementioned dubious explanation comes into play. The Bureau claims that CBP has awarded a contract to close two gaps on its lands near the Morelos Dam and “anticipates” awarding another contract to close other gaps currently blocked by shipping containers.

Let’s just say for a moment that this story is accurate. I doubt many of us would have a problem with seeing the shipping containers replaced with actual sections of the border wall. But the first contract has only been awarded. We all know the speed at which the government appropriations system moves. That work might start next month or next year (if you’re lucky).

The other contract is only “anticipated.” It hasn’t even been awarded yet. God only knows when that work will start, assuming it even does. So why order the containers to be removed immediately? Do you know how long it took Ducey to put those container barriers up? A couple of days. They can be removed just as quickly when the construction crews are ready to start their work.

So what’s the harm in leaving them in place until the wall sections are ready to install? Nothing, obviously. But just as the Democrats fought like hell to stop Trump from finishing the wall and to tear down any progress he made, they are now doing the same thing to Ducey. If you ever needed any more clear evidence that the Biden administration wants the border to be as open as possible and continue the human flood of illegal migrants into the country, now you have it.

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