Arizona border wall delayed after 2 containers fall over

PHOENIX — An attempt by Arizona Republican government Doug Ducey to use shipping containers to plug a 300-meter gap in the U.S.-Mexico border wall near Yuma was met with a brief setback when two stacked containers hit one or the other. way overturned.

Claudia Ramos, a correspondent for Univision Noticias’ digital platform in Arizona, posted on her Twitter feed a photo she took Monday morning of the containers on their side. She said they fell on the American side of the border.

No witnesses have come forward to say what happened Sunday night.

Ramos said contractors in the area told her they believed the containers had been knocked over by strong monsoon winds.

But CJ Karamargin, a spokesperson for Ducey, said he doubted that hypothesis, adding that although the containers are empty, they still weigh thousands of pounds.

“It is unlikely that this was a weather event,” Karamargin said, suggesting that someone who was against the wall was to blame.

Early Monday morning, the stacked pair of containers was upright again.

“We have clearly struck a nerve. They don’t like what we do and they don’t want to keep the border open,” said the spokesperson.

Officials from Ducey’s office say they acted to stop migrants after repeated unfulfilled promises by the Biden administration to close the gap.

Federal officials have not commented on the state’s actions, which are taking place on federal land without explicit permission. State contractors began moving and stacking 18.2-meter-long shipping containers from 18.2-meter-high (2.7-meter-tall) shipping containers early Friday. Two other 305-meter (1,000-foot) openings will also be closed. The containers are covered with 1.2 meters of barbed wire.

Karamargin said border police informed the governor’s office around midnight that the containers had fallen over.

“They weren’t secured yet,” he said. “This happened before the containers were secured on the ground. They will be bolted down later and will be immovable. ”