Resistance is mounting against the Arizona governor’s controversial plan to build a shipping container wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

A makeshift wall is under construction around the time Gov. Doug Ducey comes out of office.

Construction began earlier this year and Ducey said it was an attempt to “secure” the border.

Critics say the project illegally carves out tribal and federal land.

With just weeks to go before Ducey resigns, workers along Arizona’s eastern border with Mexico are building a barrier made up of double-stacked shipping containers and razor wire. .

That progress has recently been slowed by days of protests by environmental groups. They argue that the barrier poses a danger to native species and natural water systems in the area.

Incoming Governor Katie Hobbs has yet to decide what to do with the containers.

In Santa Cruz County, Arizona, Sheriff David Hathaway said he plans to arrest construction workers working on a wall if they reach his county.

“The location where the container is located is entirely state land and is in a national forest,” Hathaway told local news station Fox 10.

“Neither state nor private property, the federal government said [is] illegal activity. ”

The BBC has reached out to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office for comment.

Still, the initiative has the support of nearby Cochise County sheriffs, who said in a statement that they believed it would “deter crime and stop criminal activity.”

A federal agency called the barrier illegal and ordered state officials to stop work.

In response, in late October, Mr. Ducey argued that states had the right to take action to end an “unprecedented crisis” in which “countless numbers of migrants” were crossing the border. filed a lawsuit.

“The result is drug, crime and humanitarian problems on a scale never before experienced by the state,” the lawsuit states.

The federal government is seeking dismissal of the lawsuit.

Incoming Governor Hobbes has opposed the barriers, but it’s unclear if he plans to remove the containers after he takes office on January 5.

She had previously suggested reusing containers to create affordable housing options for low-income residents, but last week said she was considering all options, saying, “How much will it cost to remove?” I don’t know if it will take,” he warned. Containers and their cost? ”

Ducey’s border barrier debate comes as record numbers of immigrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.

In fiscal year 2022, which ended in September, a total of 2.38 million migrants were detained at the border, a 37% increase from the previous year.

Officials in many Republican-led states have sharply criticized the Biden administration’s handling of what some have called the immigration “crisis.”

Earlier this year, three states—Texas, Arizona, and Florida—announced initiatives to move immigrants to Democratic-led states that they accused of being “sanctuary” jurisdictions that don’t enforce immigration laws.