U.S. government sues Arizona over shipping container border wall 

The U.S. government sued Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and the state on Wednesday for using shipping containers to close caps on the U.S.-Mexico border wall, claiming that it trespasses federal land. 

The complaint by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of Agriculture, and the Forest Service, asks that Arizona “immediately” halt the placement and remove the shipping containers in the remote San Rafael Valley. 

Earlier this week, Ducey told U.S. officials that Arizona is willing to remove the containers, which were only a temporary measure, as long as the U.S. government says when it will fill the remaining gaps on the border wall. 

The U.S. “owes it to Arizonans and all Americans to release a timeline,” Ducey wrote in a letter responding to the federal complaint on Tuesday, claiming that the federal government announced it would close the gaps a year ago. 

Since August, Arizona has placed more than 3,000 double-stacked shipping containers topped with razor wire along stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border that have not been completed amid a record number of migrants crossing the border. 

At a cost of almost $95 million, many of the containers were placed on federal lands without obtaining prior permission from the government. 

"Arizona has unlawfully and without authority failed to remove the shipping containers from lands owned by the United States or over which the United States holds easements, thereby damaging the United States," the complaint reads, adding that the lawsuit also seeks damages to compensate the government for any damages along the border. 

According to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the project “is not an effective barrier, it poses safety hazards to both the public and those working in the area and has significantly damaged public land.”

“We need serious solutions at our border, with input from local leaders and communities. Stacking shipping containers is not a productive solution,” Vilsack said.