Xenophobia is widespread in America and fueled by right-wing media. For decades Republicans have done everything they can to stop immigration (even legal immigration). George W. Bush had a reasonably good immigration plan – but the R’s would not pass it. Unless you are an indigenous tribal member, you or your ancestors were immigrants. To think otherwise is delusional. Of course all of this manufactured non-sense is to scare the Republican base, keep them donating money, and voting for you know who.
Now, Arizona’s lame-duck governor Doug Ducey has completely flipped out. In October he started piling up shipping containers along the international border. The Governor’s Office released a press release –
“Our border communities are overwhelmed by illegal activity as a result of the Biden administration’s failure to secure the southern border,” said Governor Ducey. “Arizona is taking action to protest on behalf of our citizens. With this lawsuit, we’re pushing back against efforts by federal bureaucrats to reverse the progress we’ve made. The safety and security of Arizona and its citizens must not be ignored. Arizona is going to do the job that Joe Biden refuses to do — secure the border in any way we can. We’re not backing down.”
It looks Doug is a Tom Petty fan! So he is not going go to back down, but what he is doing is illegal. Lawyers for the federal government say a lawsuit by Gov. Doug Ducey seeking control of land along the border to place shipping containers is “flawed on so many fronts” that it should not be allowed to proceed.
Ducey’s container wall construction has gathered national attention, prompting pushback from the Cocopah Indian Tribe and federal demands that the containers be removed.
On November 2, the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity announced its intentions to join the federal government in a fight that should determine whether the Ducey administration possesses the authority to continue construction, and whether the containers can continue to stand.
The Ducey administration has filed a lawsuit against the federal government—against the Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Agriculture, specifically—seeking to affirm the autonomy to, as Ducey tweeted it, “protect our state.”
But according to the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), there’s more at play than security. For example, the border serves as a “critical migratory paths for endangered animals” including jaguars and ocelots protected by the Endangered Species Act.
“Ducey’s breaking the law and jeopardizing the spectacular animals that roam the borderlands, just to score political points,” said Robin Silver, a co-founder of the Center.
“We won’t allow him to trash the Sonoran Desert and public lands with thousands of shipping containers that won’t do a thing to prevent people or drugs from crossing the border….Federal attorneys should’ve been in court weeks ago to enforce the law and to protect the environment,” said Silver.
At least one newspaper story suggested that there were unaffiliated armed men at the border. No doubt ready to shoot anyone who does not look like them.