Arizona keeps shipping containers as stopgaps in border wall

The Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs refused Wednesday to remove shipping containers that fill in gaps in the border wall. Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation told Arizona officials the containers are illegal. But Arizona officials said they’ll leave them in place until they see plans to finish the wall.

Why are the shipping containers there? President Joe Biden stopped construction on the border wall when he took office. That left billions of dollars of work unfinished but still under contract. Last summer, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey ordered more than 100 double stacks of shipping containers to fill the gaps in the border wall. He said he couldn’t wait for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to award the contracts. 

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report in The Stew on a border town’s reaction to the stopgaps.