Arizona DHS director says state couldn’t wait on shipping container wall at southern border

PHOENIX — With a high number of migrants coming across the border, Arizona Department of Homeland Security Director Tim Roemer said the state couldn’t wait any longer and the shipping containers offer a quick and effective solution.

“We got funding in this budget now, to do this now,” Roemer told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Gaydos and Chad on Monday. “(President) Biden hasn’t done anything to help at the border … Arizona is taking action because our state needs to be protected today.”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey made news Friday when he issued an executive order to fill out nearly a quarter-mile of gaps in the border wall on federal land near Yuma.

Now days into the order, some of the shipping containers planned to use to fill the wall have already been put into place.

The thousand-foot gap in the border wall near Yuma is closed.

BEFORE: AFTER: pic.twitter.com/b32XQHXFMN

— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) August 15, 2022

“It’s quick, since we announced this on Friday we got at least the first thousand feet complete, which is about 60 containers in place,” Roemer said.

The shipping containers are 40 feet by nine feet and are linked together and welded shut, Ducey shared in a tweet.

The project was funded with $6 million from the fiscal year 2023 state budget.

The state got the idea from Texas, who implemented a similar strategy to help with their border security.

Roemer said it would actually be a good thing if the shipping containers had to be taken down, meaning the federal government has taken action on the border wall.

“It’s about time they supported our border state, local law enforcement and to do something about the humanitarian crisis.”

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