TUCSON, Arizona — Arizona sheriffs are threatening to take action against contractors hired by Governor Doug Ducey’s office to fill gaps in the border wall with shipping containers.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway said they are currently constructing a building about six miles from the Santa Cruz County line.

“This whole project is illegal. It’s illegal at the federal level, the state level, the local level,” Hathaway said.

He said he would charge the contractor Ducey hired for the project for illegal dumping.

“These people have not been issued a permit to do this on public land,” he said.

Hathaway said agencies such as the National Forest Service, the Reclamation Service and the Department of the Interior have warned contractors not to build the wall.

“Coronado National Forest warns people to stay away from the area due to armed individuals,” Hathaway said.

He said those people were security guards Ducey hired to protect the contractors while they were building the wall.

Governor Ducey is building the wall because I don’t think President Biden is doing enough to prevent border crime. He said he wanted the border to be safer.

After the federal government asked Ducey to tear down the wall, he filed a lawsuit.

Hathaway said he doesn’t know how long it will take to get to Santa Cruz County, but Ducey is trying to build the wall as soon as possible.

He said he expects construction of the shipping container wall to finish now that Ducey is mostly out of the office. He said he tried to contact Governor Ducey’s office but had not heard back from him.

Hathaway believes the current fencing along the border is sufficient to deter crime.

“It’s always been a four-strand cattle fence, like the barbed wire fences along the border, and it’s been hyped. Nonsense,” he said.

KGUN’s Andrew Christiansen first reported the story.