On Wednesday, the Biden administration sued Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, objecting to the shipping container barrier built along the state’s otherwise porous southern border.
The Department of Justice is demanding that the court order a halt to scheduled placement of the containers and removal of those already placed along the border in the San Rafael Valley in Cochise County. The feds also want Arizona to pick up the cost of removal.
The area is favored by the cartels for use by fentanyl and other drug smugglers because it is remote and the terrain is too treacherous for human smuggling.
“Arizona has unlawfully and without authority failed to remove the shipping containers from lands owned by the United States or over which the United States holds easements, thereby damaging the United States,” the complaint reads.
In August, Ducey issued an executive order directing the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to fill gaps in the existing border wall in Yuma County using shipping containers.
The federal government has said the land is public and called the project “unlawful.”
In October, Ducey sued federal officials who head agencies overseeing public land, including the Forest Service and the Agriculture Department.