Yuma mayor says shipping container border wall makes his city safer

PHOENIX – Yuma’s mayor said Wednesday his southern Arizona city is safer now that active areas of open border have been blocked off by shipping containers.

Mayor Doug Nicholls told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Gaydos and Chad Show he’d been to the area near the Morelos Dam earlier that day and seen the impact of the new wall, which was erected at the direction of Gov. Doug Ducey.

“People were crossing as usual but as soon as they got to the wall, obviously, they couldn’t proceed and they ended up having to wait in that area for Border Patrol to arrive in order to process them,” Nicholls said.

“So, it made it a situation where people are, I guess, congregating in a single area so Border Patrol can then address them more effectively.”

That isn’t the only benefit of project, which was completed Wednesday.

“It also discourages people who, you know, cartel members or traffickers, that want to have an easy access to our country and not wait for Border Patrol,” Nicholls said.

“It makes that a lot more difficult. So, yes, it makes our community safer.”

Nicholls also said the new wall is giving the Border Patrol a morale boost because “there’s something positive, something active being done and not just more rhetoric and more policy.”

Ducey issued an executive order on Aug. 12 to close gaps in about 3,800 feet of wall on the Arizona-Mexico border.

“These weren’t like super huge gaps, but they were the most active gaps,” Nicholls said.

☑️ 3,820 feet of previously open border closed with 130 shipping containers pic.twitter.com/nmeq6joxIX

— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) August 24, 2022

The double-stacked shipping containers are welded together and topped with razor wire, making the barrier about 20 feet high.

“Obviously, it’s not impenetrable and … it’s not the whole solution, but it is a management tool that helps us be more safe,” Nicholls said.

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