Gov. Ducey to remove border shipping containers

PHOENIX — Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has agreed to remove all the shipping containers he installed along the border.

But his press aide insists Ducey is not caving in to a lawsuit filed against Arizona by the Biden administration, threatening to remove the barrier and then bill the state. In fact, the governor's spokesman C.J. Karamargin said the deal actually is a victory because it gets Ducey what he wanted all along: a commitment by Washington to start closing gaps in the existing wall.

Ducey promised to take out not just the containers near Yuma but all “associated equipment, materials, vehicles and other objects” from the property of the United States by Jan. 4, “to the extent feasible and so as not to cause damage to United States’ land, properties and natural resources,” a stipulation filed in federal court Wednesday shows.

And the governor separately agreed to begin discussions with the U.S. Forest Service to take out the containers already installed in Cochise County on a schedule to which all sides agree.

The agreement comes in the lawsuit the Biden administration filed earlier this month asking a federal judge to force removal of the hundreds of double-stacked containers — or to allow the feds to remove the items and then bill the state for the costs.

What changed, Karamargin said Wednesday, is there are now assurances the Biden administration is ready to start filling gaps on its own, with construction starting before the end of the year.

This comes as the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to lift Title 42, the Trump-era regulation that allowed the federal government, under the excuse of protecting against COVID-19 spread, to immediately deport migrants seeking asylum.

Less clear is whether Ducey’s promise to act ends the litigation between Arizona and the federal government.

In an earlier lawsuit, Ducey contended the state had a right to erect the barriers along the border. And he asked a federal judge to declare that the “Roosevelt Reservation,” a 60-foot-wide strip along the border that President Theodore Roosevelt declared as federal land, was illegally enacted.

The new document spells out that the stipulation “is not a waiver of any rights, claims, liabilities or defenses.”

That theoretically allows the underlying case — and the dispute of ownership of the land — to continue.

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That, however, may be a moot point.

Construction of the planned 10 miles in Cochise County effectively has been halted after activists blocked crews from working.

Governor-elect Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who takes office Jan. 2, previously told Capitol Media Services she intended to halt further installation once she takes office.

Hobbs went on to say she believed Ducey’s decision to put the storage containers along the border was wrong.

“It’s not our land to put things on,” she said. “It’s a political stunt. And I think it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

The governor’s office put a $6 million price tag on filling in a 3,820-foot gap near Yuma with the shipping containers. But a 10-mile stretch now being constructed in Cochise County will set taxpayers back another $95 million.

Funding for construction came from a $335 million appropriation approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The wording of the restrictions on that account, known as the Arizona Border Security Fund, allows the money to be used solely to erect a barrier.

That means removing the containers would require the Legislature — which still will be in the hands of Republicans next year — to approve a new appropriation or reword the old law.