A mountain of shipping containers fails to stop migrants crossing the US border.

Hours before Arizona Governor Doug Ducey claimed that “a major step has been taken to secure our border” with the installation of 130 stacked shipping containers, hundreds of migrants found a way to surround themwho denied his claim.

They walked through tribal land to the edge of a high wall built under President Donald Trump to surrender to border agents waiting outside the reservation, hoping to be released to the United States to seek asylum.

Families, young couples with children, seniors and others easily crossed the Colorado River up to their knees before dawn on Wednesday. Many arrived in sandals and with shopping bags over the shoulder.

The wall isn’t as controversial as it was in 2018, when Congress denied Trump funding for one of its top priorities and triggered the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

But the events of last week in Yuma reminded of the obstacles the government faces with border barriers: difficulty in building tribal territoryparticularly on land owned by the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona, and opposition from landowners, particularly in Texas, where, unlike other border states, much of the property is private.

Critics of Ducey have released images from the Univision television network showing two containers overturned for unknown reasons during the 11 days of construction of the barrier.

Gary Restaino, Arizona’s top federal prosecutor, took advantage of a bilateral meeting in Mexico City to send a message to the governor, tweeting: “We won’t leave any containers in the desert and we’ll call it a wall to save press.” .

Ducey replied: “We took matters into our own hands” because the federal government had not done enough.

Migrants continue to bypass the barriers, in this case through a 5-mile gap in the Cocopah Indian Reservation near Yuma, a deserted city of about 100,000 between San Diego and Phoenix that has become an important illegal crossing point.

President Joe Biden stopped building the wall on his first day at the office and left unfinished billions of works already contracted. In his final months in office, Trump has worked to commission the construction of more than 450 miles, nearly a quarter of the border.

political clashes

The Biden administration made some exceptions for small jobs in areas deemed unsafe to cross, including four holes in Yuma. He hopes to award a contract for Yuma this fall, a project that could take up to 28 months.

When US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced its plans in Yuma in July, Ducey said he couldn’t wait. As a Republican colleague to the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott has clashed with the Democratic administration over immigration policies, with frequent lawsuits, and recently offered free bus rides to the east coast for asylum seekers who are released in the United States. as they review their cases.

“Arizona has done the work the federal government has not done and we have shown them how quickly and effectively the border can be made more secure if desired,” said Ducey, celebrating the installation of the containers, which in total coverage a length equivalent to 13 football fields in five different locations.

A row of 44 containers arranged on two levels suddenly ends up in an open expanse of desert. Further north, at the Morelos dam, the containers cover several gaps in an area that has seen fewer crossings in recent months.

On the day Ducey said he had completed his initiative, the Border Patrol found 850 migrants who had illegally crossed the border in the Yuma stretch, a fairly typical number. Most came with a micro or hired vehicle on the Mexican side as well they crossed the reservation in the dark under the growing moon.

night odyssey

The migrants used vehicle barriers, dirt roads and cell phone lights to reach border agents deployed outside the tribal lands for processing.

CBP hasn’t commented on Ducey’s shipping containers, but says his plan to cover the barrier cracks with steel poles, a Trump-style design with metal plates up to 30 feet high, will make the difference by concentrating less traffic. points.

“If Yuma has 10 holes and people go through all of them, it is much more difficult for us to manage than if Yuma has one or two holes and most of the traffic goes through them,” said John Modlin, Tucson Sector Manager. , Arizona, border patrol.

When asked for comment, the Cocopah tribe referred to a May 2020 letter to CBP expressing its strong opposition to a wall as it would cut off access to the river and tribe members in Mexico.

The tribe also posted a video in which its interim police chief, Arlene Martinez, listed other stages of cooperation with Border Patrol such as installing surveillance cameras and ground sensors. “Cocopah supports efforts to secure the border and has always done so,” she said.

Source: AP

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