Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ PHOENIX: In a significant development, Arizona on Wednesday agreed to dismantle a wall of shipping containers along the Mexican border that came under intense criticism for being expensive, ecologically damaging and a stunted political project that failed to keep the migrants from entering the United States.
Rusting containers
Earlier, Arizona’s Republican Governor Doug Ducey spent $90 million of taxpayers’ money lining up the rusting containers in his failed bid to stop the migrants from entering the US.
The corrugated containers, which snake for four miles in the US land like a vast stationary cargo train, divide the vital conservation area, which is also home to vulnerable species.
Now Ducey, who leaves office next year, will issue orders to remove 915 containers from the Coronado National Forest, according to AFP.
In an agreement reached on Wednesday with a federal government, Ducey said that the state would remove all the previously installed shipping containers and the associated equipment, including vehicles, materials and other objects, on lands along the Coronado National Forest.
Arizona shares around 370 miles of its border with Mexico, including environmental preservation places, national parks, military zones and indigenous reservations.
Before the containers arrived in Coronado National Forest, the wire fence had demarcated the border. It is an incredibly wild valley with no real urban population nearby, and it is a challenging part of a border for the migrants to cross.
The shipping containers were ineffective in stopping the migrants from entering the US.
The boxes do not line up in several areas because of uneven terrain, leaving gaps easily large enough for the person to walk through.
