TUCSON, Ariz. — A sheriff in Arizona is threatening action against contractors hired by Governor Doug Ducey’s office who are filling in the gaps of the border wall with shipping containers.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway said they’re currently building about 6 miles away from the Santa Cruz County border.
“This whole project is illegal. It’s illegal on the federal level, the state level, and the local level,” Hathaway said.
He said he would charge the contractors Ducey hired for the project with illegal dumping.
“There’s no permit been issued for these people to do this on public land,” he said.
Hathaway said agencies like the National Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and Department of the Interior warn contractors against building the wall.
“The Coronado National Forest has warned people to stay out of the area because there are armed individuals out there,” Hathaway said.
He said those people were the security Ducey hired to protect the contractors while they built the wall.
Governor Ducey is building the wall because he doesn’t feel like President Biden is doing enough to prevent crimes at the border. He said he wants to make the border more secure.
After the federal government asked Ducey to take down the wall, he filed a lawsuit.
Even though he doesn’t know how long it would take to get to Santa Cruz County, Hathaway said Ducey is trying to build the wall as quickly as possible.
He said because Ducey is almost out of office, he expects construction on the shipping container wall to end. He said he tried contacting Governor Ducey’s office but hasn’t gotten an answer back from him. He said he’d contacted Governor-elect Katie Hobbs about border issues.
Hathaway said he believes the current fence along the border is already enough to protect against crime.
“It’s always just been a four-strand cattle fence like a barbed wire fence along the border, and it’s a lot of hype. There’s a lot of fuzzy math about the supposed invasion and things like that. It’s pure nonsense,” he said.
Andrew Christiansen at KGUN first reported this story.
